Dr. Joanne McEvoy:

When we held our deliberative pathway sessions with three groups on the Border in Monaghan, they were three hour-long sessions. Working with these community groups, we asked them what they would like to talk about and what their priorities were for the wider constitutional discussion, and they identified healthcare as essential for them. The way in which we structured the session was that the research was very open ended and we first invited people to talk about their lived experience and what they see as important. Much of that discussion focused on problems of communication between the North and the South. They talked about being in a position where they felt able to surf between the two systems, but there were many frustrations in trying to access service delivery. They felt there was a lack of joined-up thinking across the Border in regard to healthcare. They want to see improved co-operation between Departments and between hospitals, improved infrastructure for communications and improved access to services on both sides of the Border.