James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

According to the Delivery of Specialist Mental Health Services Report 2016, which was published in September, the current whole-time equivalent of staff for the psychiatry of old age is only 53%. What is the real impact on the ground of the lack of services in psychiatry of old age?

In regard to vulnerable older people, what in legal terms is required for the increased protections of people, in particular in home care situations where much of the care is now being provided by agency staff and in respect of which, as mentioned earlier, there is no oversight? The Health Information and Quality Authority, HIQA, inspects residential institutions, but there is no oversight of the care being provided in people's homes. I have heard a few horror stories in that regard from people working in the industry.