Dr. Philip Crowley:

I was asked for my response as national director for quality and patient safety. I have worked very closely with the social care division to ensure that the initial set of recommendations that arose from the death of a person who had been staying at Áras Attracta were fully implemented, particularly with a focus on the area of nutrition. Dietetic advice was brought into the centre and other allied health staff were brought in to try to ensure that care became more individualised. We have carried out an audit of practice and policy in the unit since then and made recommendations and worked with the unit and the social care division to ensure that all the recommendations are and have been implemented.

I was as shocked as everybody else by the programme. I was personally completely unaware that such a level of care was being delivered in the centre. All I can say is that we must redouble our efforts to work with the social care division to ensure that we all work in a very coordinated fashion and devote all of our energies to ensuring that the kind of actions that Mr. Healy has laid out today have the desired effect. We must try to ensure that this very poor level of care is eradicated.