Mr. Peter Tyndall:

One issue raised related to the capacity of elected representatives to access the health service as representatives for people. This issue has been brought to my attention by other Deputies. It links to the issue about statutory representation and a statutory role for advocacy. A clear statutory position should be introduced. This is something my office has called for several times. Whether they are elected representatives acting as advocates or advocates coming through the advocacy organisations, those involved need to have a statutory capacity to act on behalf of the people they are representing. I strongly support that.

I am keen to pick up on the issue of finding a way through the maze. It is linked to Senator Burke's question. We discovered that more than 800 people were responsible for compliance within the HSE. How anyone is expected to find the right person is a mystery to me. We are working to try to get a reduction in the numbers so that a smaller number of people can be properly trained with the skills to deal with this work. We have also taken on the lead role in healthcomplaints.ie. We intend to move that from being a website that informs people about where they can go to an online service through which people can complain about any aspect of the health service in such a way that the complaint is sent to the person who is supposed to deal with it. It will take some time to do that, but I believe this will mark a step forward. It is not all that is necessary, but it will certainly mark an improvement.

I am keen to pick up the points about end-of-life care. My office has published a report called A Good Death. I will make copies available to the committee. It sets out many of the issues raised at this committee that the HSE has made a commitment to address. The reality is that we are some considerable way from that. It is something we will continue to pursue.