Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I accept that and understand that there was a learning curve, but we must learn from the past three months. The purpose of this committee is to point out that we accept that everything was done in good faith, but if the HSE is going to take the same approach again, and 1,075 people lost their lives in nursing and residential care settings, I do not want to be part of that where we do not learn from our mistakes and test people at the right time. At the height of the pandemic the requirement for testing prior to admission to residential care facilities was removed, though patients did have to self-isolate. This has been changed to a requirement for prior tests as well as 14 days of self-isolation in a single room after transfer. Reports indicate that there was a 70% increase in the number of patients sent to nursing homes in March this year compared with March 2019, that is, 1,363 compared with 805. It is not known how many were tested prior to transfer, how many tested positive later in nursing homes, and how many died as a result of not being tested.

My question is simple and I ask it again: would the witnesses take the same approach again? Following up on Deputy O'Reilly's question, was it a combined decision by the HSE, the Department of Health and NPHET? We must get to the nub of this. Fantastic work was done in the past three months by health workers and care workers in nursing homes, hospitals, acute settings and the community. The response was fantastic but the disease bore down hardest on people in residential homes. Dr. Nabarro rightly said that we have done well in Ireland, but Mr. Breslin forgot to mention that he also said quite specifically that the number of deaths in residential settings was at the upper end. If there is another surge, will the HSE take the same approach or will it ensure that patients are tested before they go into nursing home settings? Many nursing home owners believe the virus was brought into their facilities through patients being transferred out of hospitals in advance of the expected surge. I do not want to labour the point but I feel very strongly about this.