Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 13 June 2018

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health

General Scheme of the Patient Safety (Licensing) Bill: Discussion

9:00 am

Mr. Phelim Quinn:

That refers more to the inference in the current scheme that within the HSE or services funded by the HSE, that is, section 38 services, there may be certain exclusions with regard to both the application for a licence and the granting of a licence. What we want to do is work with the Department in that instance to see that we create a space whereby we have a mandate to assess the fit and proper person both for the provision of the service and for the management of the service. That relates to the application for licensing and our granting of that licence. However, it also relates to some extent to the question the Senator asked. When it comes to a point where we wish to take enforcement action, if we have not been able to make that assessment that would limit the enforcement action we can take. We have had some advice on that and it certainly would be a concern for us.