Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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I thank the HSE and all the staff for their work over the past 18 months. It has been a very challenging time.

May I raise the issue of procurement and its management? A complaint I receive from people working at local level in IT, which relates to all areas of procurement within the HSE, is that those making the final decisions are very much coming from the administration side and that there is a lack of connectivity between the experts on the ground and the decision makers. That came through in respect of the orders that went through for the ventilators. Moving on from ventilators but staying with IT, the comparison with hospitals in the private sector indicates the people who are involved in IT are very much involved in the decision-making process. The complaint is that in the HSE, that connectivity does not exist. I am wondering what can be done to make sure the people with the expertise have a huge influence on decision-making.