Ms Kate Bree:

There was no obvious question directed at me. I thank members for that. It is very evident this morning that a common theme is running through our presentations. I think it is the recognition that staff are our greatest resource and that we need to invest in them. There is high expectations of our staff in very challenging and demanding environments. We really must invest in our staff. Some of the challenges we are faced with is to try to get staff released for 20 minutes, 30 minutes or one hour in our busy clinical environment.

In regard to investing in the training of staff, that is a key priority but we have to look at some of the statistics that came out in the end-of-life audit, where some 56% of staff were distressed or troubled after their experience and exposure of dealing with families and dying patients. We do very little to support our staff. That is an issue that needs to be looked at as part of a national bereavement strategy. Senator Colm Burke referred to death happening in areas where that does not normally happen. When one is in an acute medical area, where there would be high numbers of deaths every week and sometimes very difficult scenarios, it is very difficult for staff to keep continuing. That must be acknowledged. We need to mind our staff because they are our resource and none of this will happen unless we invest in them as well as mind them. As no specific question was addressed to me, these are my general comments.