Ms Rosarii Mannion:

I will kick off and Mr. Hone will come in. I do not think the description "unqualified staff" accurately reflects what HIQA found. We are trying to make sure we have the most appropriate staff member assigned to the most appropriate task. That is really about skill mix. It is always done with the relevant service lead in terms of consultation and engagement, and there is appropriate supervision in place. What was reported there may have been misinterpreted.

Certainly, we need to get the best value from our resources. We have never had more social care workers. Of course we need more across the system. We are funded for more and we are actively trying to recruit more but we would never find ourselves in a situation where we would authorise unqualified staff to do this most complex of work.