Ms Angela Fitzgerald:

It is a very good question. It is important to note from the inpatient survey that people are overwhelmingly satisfied. We are one of the few jurisdictions that has national, centralised and organised surveys. Somebody mentioned CQC earlier on. There has been quite a critique of the multiple surveys in the UK and the fact that they do not co-ordinate. The surveys identified three things. The first relates to communication. A lot of people need clear communication when they or their family members are anxious and in hospital. That is a clear theme. There is a kind of imbalance of power in a situation where a patient is dealing with a doctor. Having time to explain what is going on is the second thing. For people in residential care, it is about them having much more of a say in what they can do. The early response to delivery of care in nursing home settings was about protecting patients, but some of that might have been taking away the freedom to make decisions, even if those decisions are not always the best ones because we can do that when we live at home. They are the three things that come through.

Interestingly, we did surveys on bereavement, end of life and maternity over a number of years. Those findings are consistent. We are working with the HSE in particular, as well as private providers. We are finding that private hospitals are very-----