Alan Dillon (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I confirm that I am in the precincts of Leinster House. I welcome our witnesses and thank them for their time today. I acknowledge the hard work they have done within their profession in the past few months. I also welcome Ms Crehan-Roche, with whom I am familiar and who is doing a fantastic job within the community healthcare west organisation.

My first question concerns the focus on the assessment of needs criteria, which meets the legal requirements and obligations of the HSE. I refer to the allocation of an additional 100 posts in 2019. Some CHOs were rewarded with additional posts to clear the backlog of assessments of needs, while others CHOs were penalised. I am talking in particular about community healthcare west, which is probably one of the highest achieving CHOs in respect of meeting the requirements. The HSE rewarded inefficiencies with additional posts. Has this situation been reviewed in the context of the service plan for 2021? I am not sure to whom to direct this question.