Prof. Orla Hardiman

And so we receive more referrals.

So the fact that our waiting lists have gone up is not a function of my colleagues and myself working less hard.

It's a function of the knowledge base and the knowledge of the potential interventions that we could make is greater.

And so we can do more good with more neurologists.

But that understanding that we can do more good is also there.

So we receive more referrals because we should be providing better care.

If we compare ourselves with other countries, we're not providing the level of care that we should.

And most neurological conditions, all neurological conditions, require multidisciplinary care with proper services provided.

with neurologists and other specialty services providing a holistic and multidisciplinary level of care to people.

Absolutely.

I mean, one of the things that Sloan to Care has proposed and the regional health authorities are implementing...

is the idea that we should provide excellent care as close to the person's home as possible.

And the introduction of these regional rehabilitation, new rehabilitation services.

are very important in that regard, as is the appointment of neurologists to the areas in which there are poor services.

That both limits the inpatient admissions, such as we described by Cara there, the 20 admissions in one year.

I mean, that's unacceptable.

These conditions, most neurologic conditions can be managed as an outpatient or sometimes with support from a neurologist

in a sort of hub and spoke model through the community services.

And we do this very well in some conditions.

So I think 2.2 million would go a long way to reduce the regional disparity that we're seeing.