Dr. Peter Kelly:

I will give the Deputy one example. It is in the current drugs strategy and I was very much pushing for progress on it. In November 2022, the HSE produced a document on nurses prescribing OST, which stated it was not a priority and the evidence did not support it. I put forward a view to the Department of Health that the document was neither accurate nor credible and that a more balanced argument should have been put forward. That was not necessarily to do with the outcome but with the process.

I asked to be given the opportunity to challenge that document. Bear in mind, I was invited onto the national oversight committee as a clinical expert and my background is in nursing. This document related to the strategic development of nursing. More importantly, it related to service users getting into treatment and I have many figures which look at waiting times, etc., since the initial recommendation was made. I was told that I am not allowed to have my evidence submitted or to challenge the document because the HSE was the lead agency relating to that specific issue. That has not changed. I have a recent email I sent to the Department of Health about that and I raised the issue again. It still has not happened. I do not know why. The committee will have to draw its own conclusions. I have my own.