Mr. Liam Doran:

I will try to cover the ground as best I can and perhaps my colleagues will fill in the gaps on the issues raised. We could come here and be alarmist and suggest that it is horrendous and people are being compromised and deaths are being caused and so on, but we have steadfastly stayed away from that. One of the first questions asked was about the impact of the staffing levels upon the real world of health care every hour of every day. The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, INMO, has advised all members to submit what we call disclaimer forms to their management whenever they find their ability to provide safe care is compromised. These are being submitted on a daily basis, sometimes two and three times per day, in most hospitals throughout the country as we speak, because the registered nurses in situ maintain they cannot provide the care. In our submission we said our fear is that this is a sign or symptom of the mid- Staffordshire situation, which was ignored repeatedly. The views of front-line staff were ignored and the end product was an adverse care environment.