Ms Mary Dunnion:

Yes. The HSE was using a tool that would have required the staff of the organisation to answer specific questions. It is a recognised tool. There are multiple tools so the HSE obviously picked a specific one. One would want to be able to draw a conclusion and have a good response rate, with many staff returning their data. That was not the case with the HSE safety culture assessment. Therefore, was the tool used to lead change? We actually do not know because the response rate was so low it would not really give one any information.

One of the CMO's recommendations was that we should conduct a safety culture assessment in Portlaoise, and it was included in the terms of reference. In carrying this out, one will always nuance it by stating there are multiple tools and limitations to every tool, and they should only be used to bring about improvement. It gives information at a time but it is a tool to use. We commissioned an external entity well known for its work in patient culture assessment to conduct the survey for us because the authority would not have the skills or resources. There was a return rate of over 45%. We were satisfied that a significant number responded, giving a good indication of the culture of safety in the hospital. We used the mechanism to inform the questions we were going to ask and the areas we were exploring. We recognise it reflects a moment in time and that the tool should be used to drive improvement. As a consequence of that, we would have given the tool and its findings to the HSE at a national level once the survey was completed and the data were correlated.