David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome Ms Fitzgerald and her team. I thank HIQA first for the work it does and I thank all of its team. It is very important that we have strong regulation because that ensures we have quality and safe care. I hold HIQA in high regard in the context of the work it does, which often receives criticism, but I recognise the value of that regulatory work.

My first question is on the issue of emergency departments. Perhaps I might address this question to Mr. Egan first because he is the person who oversees that work. It is good that HIQA has looked at those hospitals which are not performing well, but has also looked at those hospitals which are performing better. It is not perfect in any hospital but certainly University Hospital Waterford and other hospitals have been identified as doing better. It is very important to learn from that and to look at what is best practice and to mandate that best practice across all hospitals, as far as I would see it. Given that HIQA has looked at the good and the bad - when I say bad, it is not all bad in hospitals but may not be as good as other hospitals - and HIQA publishes its report, what level of engagement does HIQA then have at the highest level with the HSE in order that the latter can take learnings from the authority’s reports?

When it visits emergency departments and hospitals and gets an understanding of what is happening, does HIQA also meet with the chief officers of community services to get a glimpse of what is happening there? I want to get to the point which Ms Fitzgerald made, which is that what happens outside of hospitals can be as much a driver of long wait times as capacity problems. I would like to start with those questions, please.