Neasa Hourigan (Dublin Central, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

The reason I ask that is this is a joint committee with the Oireachtas Joint Sub-Committee on Mental Health. One of the things we have been doing on the mental health committee is pre-legislative scrutiny on the health amendment Bill. A few weeks ago, I was struck by the opening statement from the Irish Medical Organisation on the role of the consultant in multidisciplinary teams. According to its opening statement:

...a consultant is clinically independent and retains overall responsibility for the care of...[any] patient. While a consultant psychiatrist may consult, and frequently does, with other members of the multidisciplinary team with regard to aspects of a patient's treatment including involuntary detention, [or] any legal requirement to do, it poses a risk to patient safety, undermines the contractual responsibility of the consultant and blurs the lines of accountability.

What is being talked about there is something very specific, but it is instructive of a kind of reticence or concern around the role of consultants when making decisions on patient care. I ask for comments on the fact that we currently now have a team, or it seems to me the representatives have outlined that there is a team, where it is not clear that the consultant is in charge or has full reporting responsibility from every single discipline on that team and yet, in practical terms, that is what is happening on the ground. Is that providing the kind of trust and clarity needed in respect of decision-making for patients?