Dr. Colm Henry:

They report to clinical directors within their own individual hospitals and, of course, through those to the general managers and chief executives of hospitals and hospital groups. In those situations, of course, as the Deputy said, it is not in anybody's interest, most of all the patient, that they are being cared for by somebody who is working excessive hours, be it the core hours of availability during the week or excessive on-call availability. Our thrust in many of these cases is to create more sustainable rotas. For example, in maternity networks over the past few years, we have placed a minimum of six doctors for each of the 19 maternity hospitals, including some of the 19 maternity units, rather than relying on traditional models of two or three consultants providing continuous cover. We are working in a very competitive environment recruitment-wise to recruit consultants for more sustainable rosters rather than one-in-two and one-in-three rotas, which result not just in excessive payments but excessive hours worked by consultants in those cases.