Colm Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I apologise for having to leave this meeting early, but I must raise an issue on the Adjournment in the Seanad. I thank Mr. McEnery for his presentation. I wish him every success in his role as chairperson of the authority. I believe HIQA is playing an important part in setting standards and making sure they are implemented. The question I would like to raise relates to an important report on this country's maternity services and the consultation that took place during the Galway investigation. Medical personnel from a certain institution have advised me that management at another hospital, which was regarded as not having implemented the recommendations in the Drogheda report, did not consult the medical personnel in that hospital before the reply was sent to HIQA. It was suggested that they had not complied with a recommendation in the Drogheda report. I have been advised that the recommendations in the Drogheda report had been fully implemented at the hospital in question. I wonder whether the relevant cross-checking procedures were in place in that scenario. HIQA has identified that 12 or 13 of the 19 units have not implemented the terms of the Drogheda report in full. I have been advised by people working in one of those units that they have implemented the recommendations fully, but that this has not been recorded because the staff in question were not consulted by management when the submission was being prepared. I wonder whether a cross-checking exercise was done. I raised this matter with the chief executive of HIQA when I met her this morning on her way to Dublin. This issue needs to be examined. I apologise for having to be excused in order to attend an Adjournment debate.