Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
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It is very important that is communicated to the wider public because there is a view abroad that some kind of omnipotent medical officer is sitting in a back room in the HSE making a decision on the future care or the ability of a family to care for an ill or disabled loved one. That is a view that is out there. I am not saying it is correct but it is a view that has been communicated to me by constituents who have found themselves in difficult circumstances and are in the process of appealing decisions. One of the other issues that arises in that context is the apparent inability of some constituents of mine to access information records in terms of how that decision was made. I know of a number of examples where individuals are pursuing freedom of information requests to try to access that material. Would it be a more transparent process and in the interests of the HSE and citizens if they had access to that information in a much more open fashion? That is an issue that is hanging over this process. Clearly, if one is the parent of an ill or disabled child and one's medical card is withdrawn, one has to deal with that particular trauma and fight the system to try to get as much information as possible in order to come to some kind of an understanding as to how that decision was arrived at? Do the witnesses have any comments on that?