Mr. Phelim Quinn:

Absolutely. I will then pass over to my colleague, Ms Dunnion, who is the chief inspector of social services. We would have daily contact with a number of the issues raised by the members.

There are two elements that could be banded together. One relates to the individual and population needs assessment, and for future planning for people as they age - as Senator Colm Burke discussed - and as individuals require a different service profile. This also comes into the accountability framework. We perceive that the whole area of needs assessment, planning for services, holding services to account, providing money for services and assessing value for money in the delivery of services falls under a form of commissioning model. I appreciate that commissioning, as it is seen in other jurisdictions, is sometimes perceived very much as a money-saving exercise. There is a clear emphasis on issues such as the expense of services and how they are purchased. HIQA, however, wants to see a model based around individual need and population need. The sort of work that we are beginning to engage in with the HSE revolves around the various populations and service types, but this has not yet been absolutely tied down. One of the groups we are looking at under an accountability framework with the HSE is that which relates to disability services. There is potential to explore, within those discussions with the HSE, what future planning and future service configuration would look like. As well as the provision of long-term residential care, this would also include other models of care that can be provided in a safe, effective and high-quality way. As the HSE is the national procurer of services, it would want to ensure that it is getting value for money within any service or model of delivery.

Deputy Murphy O'Mahony asked about other countries. There are a number of models across Europe. We have invited a former Government Minister from the Basque country, Rafael Bengoa, as a guest lecturer next week. He will talk about this sort of accountability framework in the context of vertical integrated care. In some ways, HIQA is continually trying to look into international circumstances to see how those models would best fit into the Irish context.

I will now hand over to my colleague, Ms Mary Dunnion, who can answer some of the other questions that were raised.