Liam Twomey (Wexford, Fine Gael)

I move amendment No. 7:

In page 7, between lines 2 and 3, to insert the following:

"(b) in subsection (1), by inserting the following new paragraph (g):

"(g) to make it the responsibility of the Chief Executive Officer of the hospital to which a staff member referred to in paragraph (f) is attached, to ensure that that staff member has received the requisite training and education to allow him or her to fulfil his or her duties in accordance with the terms of this Act,",".

I have proposed this amendment in the interests of accountability. Are the HSE or the hospitals accountable for paramedics? One of the biggest problems with accountability in the health services is that there are no clear lines of demarcation. The responsibility is all very nebulous. If one has the persistence to keep asking who is responsible in a hospital and to keep following the links in the chain, one might still never find out who is responsible for issues. There must be clear lines of accountability.

The HSA has queried whether practices in our accident and emergency departments in our hospitals could contribute to patient illnesses and whether the HSE could be exposed to significant litigation. The report of the Neary inquiry will be published soon and it will show terrible practices in our hospitals which have affected patient care. We had a Private Members' debate here led by Fine Gael two weeks ago on the social services inspectorate. The whole basis of that is to protect patients. The audit of our hospitals shows that our hospitals are unhygienic and are not safe places for patients in too many cases. All of this comes down to who is responsible. If legislation is to be put through the House, we should put responsibility on people throughout the health service.

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