Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Neither governance nor clinical and general resources were in place in Portlaoise even though it was regarded as a level 3 hospital. Mr. Quinn referred to this in his statement today and it is highlighted in the executive summary. What is the motivation to pretend that a service exists when, in effect, that service cannot be delivered? Was the HSE in some way trying to obligate itself to provide a service that it clearly could not provide or was not willing to resource? I find it extraordinary that the hospital is identified as a level 3 hospital. In the emergency department, for example, the number of emergency consultants was exceptionally limited, and the broader hospital just simply was not resourced to deliver a level 3 service. Was there any analysis carried out as to why the HSE said it was providing a service that it simply could not provide, or was unwilling to, or could not, resource?

We have had the Tania McCabe case in Our Lady of Lourdes and the Savita Halappanavar case in Galway and there have been investigations in Ennis and Mallow. There seems to be an inability on the part of the HSE to cross-fertilise best practice throughout its organisation. Has HIQA looked at that? Why is that the case? If something is deficient in a hospital, one would assume that, at national level, other hospitals would be assessed to see whether those deficiencies exist and what practices can be put in place. Why does that not happen?

Given the significant system-wide recommendations in the report, it is vital that there is necessary political commitment to manage their implementation in order to drive further improvements in quality, safety and governance of care provided in our health system. That is an indication that sometimes when hospital services are being withdrawn or downgraded there is political involvement and very often the consequences for patients and the need to ensure that there is quality and safety provided in hospitals are secondary considerations. Will Mr. Quinn elaborate on what he means by political commitment?