Séamus Healy (Tipperary South, Workers and Unemployed Action Group) | Oireachtas source

I have one question for HIQA about resources, which is raised in the final page of the authority's submission. We are all aware of the environment in which the health service is operating. Hospitals and health care facilities have lost up to 25% of their budgets in recent years as well as hundreds of members of staff. As Deputy Ó Caoláin has said, some of the reports by HIQA, which are excellent, may have been used in the past for a different purpose by the HSE or the Department of Health. To what extent, if at all, does HIQA address the whole question of resources and the availability of numbers and categories of staff? This is a key question because when one hears about HIQA reports, one hears about what the authority has found in particular hospitals or health care facilities, but there is no commentary on the level of resources available, whether such resources are adequate, whether staffing levels are adequate or whether the categories of staff available are adequate. I ask the witnesses to address that issue.