Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the witnesses, and thank them for giving their time. I thank them for their work to date and the response of the healthcare sector. I have four or five questions which I will put them to all three witnesses and whoever wishes to respond may do so.

This awful pandemic has borne down heaviest on older people, in particular those in nursing homes and residential facilities. Latest figures indicate that 62% of those who died were in such settings. I welcome that testing has been ramped up in nursing homes in recent weeks and all have been tested, staff and residents alike, but such testing should be carried out on a consistent basis. Regular testing in nursing homes will provide some reassurance for residents, their carers and families. Some felt badly let down at the outset. Is there a plan to roll out regular testing on a monthly or two-monthly basis in residential settings?

Nursing homes closed their doors to visitors on 6 March to protect residents and staff. How many patients were transferred from acute hospitals to step-down facilities - residential homes or nursing homes - during the month of March? Were they tested for Covid prior to their transfer? Of those transferred, do we know which patients subsequently contracted Covid and how many have passed away?

Deaths are highly concentrated in the three age groups over 65 years, which account for 93% of all deaths from Covid-19. Was this the expectation of the witnesses at the beginning? If so, why was the response very slow on personal protection equipment, PPE, and staff support in the nursing and residential home sector? While there were significant issues around sourcing PPE initially, the level of deaths among those over 65 years suggests the response was slow at the outset.

The restoration of BreastCheck and CervicalCheck are vital for the health of women. A clear plan needs to be put in place to address the backlog that has built up during the Covid pandemic, when, understandably, the screening services were suspended. The time has come to supercharge screening as a priority. Routinely, 34,000 tests are taken monthly. Figures published last week showed that no mammograms were carried out in April and that samples sent to CervicalCheck labs decreased by 93%.

In terms of my question, when can we see a resumption of those services and what plans will be put in place to deal with the backlog?

I turn now to the homecare sector and the wearing of face masks. Recently, the Health Protection Surveillance Centre, HPSC, issued guidance for immediate implementation that surgical masks should be worn by healthcare workers when providing care within two m. of a patient, irrespective of the Covid-19 status of the patient. Most people receiving home care will be older or more likely to have an underlying health condition and are obviously more vulnerable to the virus. Can Mr. Reid provide any clarity on that? Are face masks mandatory for a homecare worker who may be entering six or seven different homes on any given day?