1/ I fear there is too much “us versus them” at the moment regarding public and private hospitals. All I can say is that every single one of us for various reasons decided to leave the public system and work as full time private consultants.

2/ We therefore do not take any salary or pension or staff at all from the public purse. For me personally it’s not about the private system being better. I worked in the public system for 20 years and so many things worked great.

3/ A time came however when I wished to do things differently. Any opinions I have for or against a slainte care system are irrelevant. At present I recognise that over 50% of the Irish population do pay for private insurance.

4/ We as a nation recognise that there are long waiting lists in the public sector and there are many reasons for that. Is it equally valid that over half of the population who access their care in the private sector have decided not to burden the overburdened public system

5/ But then is it fair now to deny them access to hospitals and specialists that they have perhaps had a relationship with for decades.

6/ I feel it’s now quite likely that the private system will now be used to continue to exclude patients known to that system the treatments they have been waiting for, in order to allow the public hospital groups to get through their waiting lists.

7/ We cannot adopt such an incorrect opinion which is out there on social media that private patients are somehow now unimportant, over privileged people who don’t have anything urgent that needs to be taken care of.

8/ In fact I suspect most people with health insurance work extremely hard to put away the money each month to pay for that insurance.

9/ An NHS type set up for all is a lovely idea, but how will the country pay for that? We have many examples of how government spending often is wasteful, lacking value for money, the end result is laid then at the taxpayers doorstep or through reduced spending in other areas

10/ I find it impossible to accept that we in full time private practice are somehow contributing to the aspects of the public healthcare system that aren’t doing well.

11/ Are we not in fact responding to the clinical needs of so many.
My sole wish is to get back to taking care of my patients. No more no less.