Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank all the witnesses for their time this morning and for their statements. They are very useful. This question is to whoever would like to respond. In terms of the quality of the service, several witnesses suggested that the service is under more pressure than it was previously. Reference was made earlier to 2008 and, just a minute ago, to a degrading of the service. I have two questions. First, how is the service doing over time? Is it getting better or worse and If it is getting better or worse, in what ways? There is time per person; consistency, for example, having the same carer available to the same person; waiting time and access to getting what one needs; the quality of the care provided; equipment that is sometimes needed and so forth. The witnesses know that much better than I do. How are we doing and, specifically, in what areas are services getting better or worse?

In terms of the second opening question, several witnesses stated that access is getting more difficult. I presume that means that waiting times are increasing and that the amount of care available per person or per home is decreasing. On the basis that the spending on healthcare per person has increased every year for the past six years and is significantly higher than it was in 2008, what do the witnesses believe is happening if we are spending more money per person if the services are indeed getting worse?