Ms Laura Casey:

On the Chair's reflections on visiting, the HSE guidelines are quite clear that unless there are particular circumstances, visits to nursing homes should be allowed. Visits are important for all of the reasons he outlined and for the well-being of residents in particular. I am sure that we all know the importance of meeting and seeing family and friends. I reiterate that unless there is a particular incident within a nursing home, visiting should not be restricted.

On providing the chief inspector with a power in the form of urgent orders to deal more quickly with issues, in those circumstances it is "where it is believed that there is an immediate, material, adverse impact on the health, welfare, care or safety of a resident". Currently, under section 59 of the Act, HIQA has quite strong powers but the bar is quite high and is threat to life or a serious risk to health. For the Bill, it still needs to be a serious incident but the bar is lower and it provides for quick action, through the courts, to bring a provider back into compliance.

The Chair made a further point about the level of inspectors. As I mentioned earlier, there has been quite an increase in the number of inspectors not just on the nursing homes side within HIQA but broadly across HIQA. Approximately €5 million in additional funding was provided over the past number of years to increase staff across a number of areas and the inspectorate is one of them. Those resources are making a difference. They have increased the rate of inspection and we hope to see that continue in the coming years.