Dr Gabrielle Colleran

We don't have that, unfortunately.

We haven't had that for the last hundred years.

I disagree.

I'm sorry, I disagree.

But there is a difference between fearing for your purse and fearing for your life.

Absolutely.

Good morning, David.

Thanks for having me.

I think, David, it's important for me to say at the start that all consultants work weekends and we provide 24-7, 365 cover for unscheduled care.

So that's people coming in with heart attacks, strokes, car accidents, urgent surgery.

So consultants are already doing that.

And indeed, I was chatting to one of my colleagues on council last night who has been in operating Andrada Friday night, Saturday night, Sunday night, and she's in this morning providing scheduled care.

So we do that 24-7.

What the Minister is referring to is scheduled care on Saturday.

So within the POC contract, one of the changes was that ability to be rostered as part of the normal working week, not just the 24-7 unscheduled care that we do every weekend, but in additional scheduled care.

So outpatients, if you have a lump on your finger, you need to see a plastic surgeon, a dermatology appointment, all those kinds of things.

And David, this is where there's a really critical piece around capacity.

I've spoken with you before and I've shared that we used to have half the number of consultants of the EU average and we now have a third less than average.

So if I'm to give you a blanket analogy where we have a patient in the bed and consultant cover is that blanket, our blanket is a third smaller than the EU average.

So if we pull up that blanket and we cover our shoulders and we're providing scheduled care Monday to Friday, we don't have the physical capacity with consultants anymore.