David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Sometimes evidence we hear presented before this committee stops us in our tracks and I think this is one of those days. I thank Ms Phoenix, Mr. Hughes, Ms Staunton, Mr. Staunton, Ms O'Mahony and Mr. Callaghan for their evidence today. It is important. As Mr. Staunton said, it should not be left to the families to do all the heavy lifting in terms of advocacy work and trying to seek improvements in this regard. There is much we can do, so it is extremely important the witnesses are here with us and that we are having this session. This committee needs to take on this issue as one of our top priorities in respect of seeking improvements in this regard. We will have witnesses from the HSE in with us next and that will be the first step in this process.

Equally, there was a conference a few weeks ago at which my office was represented. I took some notes regarding what feedback emerged from that conference. Included were comments suggesting that the sepsis programme in this State needs a publicly-funded research nurse in every hospital. This would not cost a great deal of money and it should be done. It was also observed that mandatory national guidelines exist but that there are questions around their implementation. We need to follow up with the HSE on this matter and seek a report from it on this matter. The feedback at that conference also included the fact that the national sepsis team audits hospitals for compliance but the guidelines in this regard are themselves inadequate. There is room for improvement in terms of basic research and diagnostics and updating against international guidelines. I think that we need to take the protocols in place in New York and those other states and examine how improvements in that context have come about, what they have done and how we can learn from them in respect of updating our own programmes and guidelines in this State. There is also a need for greater awareness among medical professionals, including, as the witnesses said, dentists, GPs, pharmacists and so on.

There is, then, a great deal that can be done. I will give the remainder of my time to the witnesses to comment, perhaps starting with Ms O'Mahony and moving on to Mr. Staunton, Ms Staunton and Ms Phoenix. I would like them to give us a sense of what they would say if they were talking to the HSE's representatives. What is the one thing they would ask them? What are the main priorities they would want to see being adopted by HSE in the very short term?