Sláintecare

And that's rightly what you mentioned, is they overspend an agency.

and outsourcing to private companies to provide frontline healthcare services, which is contradictory to Sonicare.

So the government unfortunately is continuing to look at outsourcing to push that.

And as rightly has been talked about as well, the cost of increasing health insurance, etc.

We are now in a situation where patients will not get access to frontline services that should be provided under Sonicare.

I know all of

that.

And I mean, there's also been...

Like, I sat on the Sláinte Care report, right? And I know you covered it well there on the Sky Clara stuff there a, a number of weeks ago.

I mean, the, one of the very first things that was signed off on that, um, Sláinte Care report was, right, that any medical treatment should be based on your needs and not on your means.

In other words, not money, that you pay in to a system and you should be treated if you have a problem.

The problem with this is, once they stop the insourcing, right? And even at that, I mean, the health chiefs did acknowledge earlier this year and admitted that it would put an impact on the waiting list, but they still went ahead with it and still have a recruitment embargo.

Yeah.

And that, that is the problem, but it's been thrown in the wrong direction.

Like, we've, we've said it and we've put it out, and we've even mentioned, again, going back to the Sláinte Care report, and I, I apologize for going back to it.

Correct.

And some of them, you know, there is already a GLP, uh, funded, uh, through the medical card system, but yes, those are important questions, and we want to have medicines that work for people, that reduce illness, reduce the burden of illness, and ultimately reduce the cost of healthcare for the taxpayer by having better and earlier interventions, not just with drugs, but with medical devices, wearable medical devices, and that is a big part of Sláinte Care, about moving medicines, you know, closer to home.

Okay.

Um, but it, it does create a very significant challenge for us.

I, what I'm focused on is, is the, is getting the, the business case through government and making sure that we have, um, making sure that the project goes ahead as quickly as possible.

Sticking with maternity care, still huge disquiet among Irish women that the only aspect of healthcare that people cannot choose whether to go publicly or privately in is women's health, that in maternity services, there will be, over a phased period of time, no private maternity facilities, as far as we know, available to women, some of whom would like to choose to go privately, as they can in every other aspect of healthcare, and as men can in all aspects of their healthcare.

Um, what do you say to those women who say that Sláinte Care, in the manner in which it has been delivered in maternity care, has limited their choice?

I think, look, we are trying to deliver a better choice for women within the public system.