Ms Lucianne Bird:

The Deputy asked about when people are not happy with a service. Generally, service providers working in the area have strong complaints procedures in place. We follow the HSE Your Voice Your Say complaint procedures. We are mandated to report complaints to the HSE about the part of our business it funds on an ongoing basis. Our approach is to have strong advocacy and supports in place for people we work with and provide services to. All our services have representative committees. Mr. Meere is an example. There is a strong advocacy voice across Rehab Group as a whole. Our approach is that we try to be the microphone but not the voice. We are the means by which someone such as Mr. Meere or others who use our services speak and tell us what they want, and we set out to be responsive. People are not always happy. They have the right to complain and should do so. We view complaints positively in the sense that they give us an opportunity for improvement and for doing things differently. We have a strong ethos in the organisation to resolve complaints and work with the people who use our services.

With respect to communication, all National Learning Network training builds in advocacy for every person who participates in the programme. Many people who use our service are not able to communicate openly, as the Deputy stated, or are not yet verbal. We have different tools. We use assistive technology and various means to ascertain whether something is a person's choice or preference. Assisted decision-making, which passed into law recently, puts huge emphasis on that. A lot of staff training and a programme of work is under way in Rehab Group to implement the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) (Amendment) Act. We will set out to review and improve and ensure that the voice, preference and wishes of the service user are paramount in everything we do. I hope that answers the Deputy's question.