Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the two representatives of HIQA for coming to this meeting. I wish Mr. McEnery the best of luck with this comprehensive plan. I disagree with Senator Crown in so far as I think it is a far-reaching plan. I hope it will go further in the years to come as HIQA's remit is developed. I would like to ask two questions about the plan. Do the plans for expansion that have been outlined depend on funding, recruitment and Government policy? If so, what level of engagement has HIQA had with the Minister and the Department and what was the outcome of that engagement?

The removal of funding from patient advocate organisations over the last year is a bugbear of mine. One of the first parts of HIQA's mission statement involves "putting people first". What is Mr. McEnery's view on how the patient experience in our hospitals is managed and monitored? There is no advocacy agency measuring the patient experience and feeding that information back to the Department of Health and the HSE. I am reminded of the old adage to the effect that if one does not monitor something, one certainly cannot manage it. What are Mr. McEnery's views in this respect? I do not mean to downgrade the efforts of individual hospital managers to provide for patient advocacy in their hospitals when I say that inconsistency is a feature of such initiatives across the country. In some cases, there is a complete lack of any engagement with patients. Does Mr. McEnery feel it might be within HIQA's remit to establish a patient advocacy arm, or at least to collect data on the patient experience that can be used as we try to ensure we are spending the health budget of €13 billion effectively?