Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the senior management team from HIQA for coming here today and for their opening statement. The area of the statement I am particularly interested in relates to HIQA's inspections of emergency departments. I will be quite frank with the witnesses: people in my area believe that HIQA has let the people of the mid-west down because of the situation in the emergency department at University Hospital Limerick, UHL. I would like the witnesses to give us an overview as to what co-operation, if any, HIQA has got from the management team at UHL and, critically, what follow-up has happened following its inspections of the emergency department. I am sure the witnesses are well aware that more than 100 people are on trolleys in UHL daily at this stage. Many of them are from the constituency in which I live and some of them are my friends. They feel the whole system, including HIQA, has let them down. The witnesses might comment on specifically what HIQA has done as a regulatory inspection organisation to assist in resolving the serious situation that exists at UHL.