Ms Fiona Larthwell:

This speaks to what we call the single assessment tool for standardised assessments of care. The tool that has been introduced – a little slowly at first but now picking up pace – is the interRAI tool within the HSE. It is a standardised care needs assessment tool. How do we know what people actually need and how do we ensure that is fairly and consistently defined across the country? Currently, decisions are being made every day by a group of professionals involved in the care of people about how much care the latter need. They look at that on a granular basis. Does the person have a walker available to him or her? Is the person just out of hospital? What family support is needed? That is great and I am pleased that they take into consideration all of those personal circumstances, but it presents difficulties where someone in one part of the country gets ten minutes because that is all the provision that is available but would get 20 minutes were he or she in another part of the country. We need this to be standardised across the country. That is fundamental to the question the Deputy is asking and is why we are introducing the standard assessment of care.