John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

One of the criticisms is that there does not seem to be a lateral thinking approach. This is not a personal criticism; I am trying to be helpful. I am a Government Deputy. What can Government do to assist? Mr. Walsh is talking about it from a helicopter view and level, looking down on it, yet we talk to parents who have a 15- or 16-year-old with urgent and acute needs who have to wait. From that perspective, it is unacceptable. One of the criticisms is that the system does not seem to be agile or flexible enough, or no one sits down and acknowledges there is a shortage. I would like to give the witnesses an opportunity to tell us the things they think the HSE does well and what is done in a situation where primary care or specialists are not available because the HSE cannot employ them. What does it do as an organisation? What reassurance can HSE officials give a parent who has an adolescent or a child who is hearing that? What they will hear is that it sounds like they will be waiting interminably. What kind of discussions and tangible things happen in CHO 7, for example, and in the HSE at a higher level that would give people some kind of comfort that the executive is aware and alive to the urgency and acuteness of this?