Professor Malcolm MacLachlan:

I can respond to the other question from Deputy Whitmore. We are aware of the surveys conducted by the professional organisations that the Deputy mentioned. We are of course concerned about some of the findings. The Deputy mentioned that 95% of psychologists responded in a particular way, for example. Unfortunately, there were small sample sizes used by these organisations. Also, the way in which the questions were asked were somewhat problematic. I will be writing to each of the three organisations tomorrow expressing some of these concerns and inviting them to discuss their results because we very much want to learn from them. If we put the three organisations together, approximately 200 people would have responded to the survey. Recently, we did a webinar on remote assessment with clinicians from all of those organisations who are conducting assessments and interventions remotely because of the Covid-19 situation. We had 900 people in attendance at that session and we had 1,300 in total sign up for it. While that is certainly not a vote for or against any form of standard operating procedure, what is does reflect - this is important - is the great flexibility and willingness to approach the current situation in a creative and flexible way.

There is clear evidence that assessments are being done and followed up with interventions remotely. It is very important to emphasise that the national clinical programme, which was only established last year, is a venue for all of these professions to have an opportunity to contribute directly to programme design for the first time in any clinical programme within the HSE. They will be contributing along with service users. There is strong user representation on our national clinical programme.

In previous work I did over five years with the UN programme on the rights of people with disability, we looked at promoting structural change across more than 40 countries in terms of how to implement the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. In some circumstances, that required changes in policy, such as the Disability Act, while in other situations it required supporting professional organisations to change some of the practices that had become orthodoxy. We often also wanted to promote the idea of a standardised approach in order that we could ensure there was an effective, efficient and equitable approach. This is exactly what the ombudsman is calling for and we wholeheartedly support that call.