Mary Henry (Independent)

I know, but the Minister's proposal will cost a fortune. Will radiographers stay in this country if it takes six years to train when it only takes four years to train in England? It is the same for physiotherapists. In addition, the Hanly report also rightly points out how long it takes here to train to become a specialist. The Minister for Education and Science's proposals would add on another two years. We already have a problem with people taking early retirement when we want people at a specialist level to be there for long enough to give decent service. Great consideration needs to be given to the proposals of the Minister for Education and Science. I have heard no costing of those proposals and the Department of Health and Children should have a much greater say regarding those proposals than it appears to have at present.

The area that has received most media attention is the review of acute hospitals, which is very important. However, we have known about this area for years. We could go back to the Fitzgerald report, which recommended much the same as the Hanly report. We are in an age which requires a multidisciplinary approach to medicine so that the patient gets the best possible care. Like other people, I am sick of the word "downgrading". If someone goes into the Bon Secours hospital in Glasnevin, do they say they have gone somewhere that has been downgraded? Yet this hospital only does elective surgery and procedures, so people go in there on a planned basis. I was a patient there once for a day and I could not believe the efficiency. I was saying to the staff how great it was that if one had an x-ray appointment at 10 a.m. one was x-rayed at 10 a.m. and so on. The staff said they did not have to cope with the victims of a major car crash coming in, which would throw everything into disarray. I have worked in acute hospitals for long enough to know that by 9 a.m. or 10 a.m. the plan for the day has gone out the window because something happens which takes over the entire x-ray department. I implore people to stop talking about downgrading.