Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Mr. O'Brien and Mr. Woods for their presence today. The previous time I met Mr. O'Brien was at the Committee of Public Accounts but he will be glad to hear there will not be the same level of grilling. I welcome the fact there is an accountability framework in place. That was a separate issue in respect of contracts. Notwithstanding the remit of this committee, it is still in the abstract and at present we have to deal with what we have. There is an onus to operate the HSE in as best a way as possible. I welcome the fact Mr. O'Brien is avidly recruiting.

Does the Keane report, which was mentioned earlier, specifically deal with the retention of staff? Morale is very low and I wonder what plans the HSE has to address staff morale? We have to deal with the here and now and retaining staff is more difficult than recruiting staff. Will he outline his views and suggest a solution?

In his opening statement, Mr. O'Brien mentions multi-morbidity. Does the HSE have a long-term strategy to address that, to examine the change in demographics to see what solutions it has and if there will be a significant cost to the taxpayer on account of that?

Deputy Brassil mentioned IT in regard to health records. What level of investment is required to create electronic health records and how has it progressed?