Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 5 December 2019

Public Accounts Committee

2018 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 15 - Development of Primary Care Centres

9:00 am

Ms Anne O'Connor:

That is the review I am talking about. We are looking at everybody who is in a private residential placement with either intellectual disabilities or mental health difficulties. It is interesting because one of the key components, particularly for younger people, is the distance from home and family. That is a key component in what we are looking at as well.

On the value for money question, people are placed in what we call an emergency placement, if things break down at home, or whatever happens. They are left in this placement that can often be very high cost and highly-supported. We are bringing in a new system of reviewing all of these placements. That is under way. We have worked through many different placements to look at the appropriateness of the placement, its oversight, whether there is a different type of placement that would meet that person's needs in a better way, where it is in relation to local community and family, and all of that. We are actively working through all of those at the moment. Hopefully, this will address the concerns the acting chairman is raising.

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