Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I refer to my experience in acting in a legal capacity. I have run into difficulties with the HSE where I have written to the HSE in a legal capacity to find the HSE corresponding directly back with a member of the family who has sought legal advice because he or she is not able to manage the matter. I found the HSE totally ignoring the legal letters and corresponding back to the spouse or the person who is in the nursing home, for example, and that spouse may not be that well. I found that on a number of occasions, letters were sent out four or five weeks before I was aware of them being sent out. I had to take this up at national level with the HSE because in a particular part of the country the HSE was ignoring letters that were being sent by solicitors on behalf of people in nursing homes and instead corresponding with the spouses. This is something that needs to be looked at.