Jimmy Devins (Sligo-Leitrim, Fianna Fail)

I wish to share time with Deputies Fiona O'Malley, Cooper-Flynn, Callanan, Fleming and Moloney.

I am delighted to have the opportunity to speak on this Private Members' motion on patient safety. Anyone who has involvement in the provision of health care, be it in the front line or through a family member or friend recovering and receiving care, or even at the political level, will want the highest level of patient safety. We also want the quality of the health care to be of the highest level. There is no doubt that a significant minority of patients can be harmed because of their involvement with the health services. While this potential has always existed, and unfortunately will always exist, it would be foolhardy in the extreme to ignore it.

We must seek to keep adverse effects to a minimum. Where they do occur, there must be an open and transparent system of reporting, investigating and hopefully preventing a recurrence in the future. For this to happen, it is essential that a mind change occur within those who work in the health care system. For far too long, defensiveness has been the over-riding response to adverse effects and costly and long drawn-out litigation has been the ultimate result. I warmly welcome the adverse event reporting system established under the clinical indemnities scheme. This will allow all those working in the health care system to identify, examine and learn from mistakes made. The advantage at local level is that such an adverse effect will lead to a rapid local analysis and response which should result in the issue being resolved quickly. Another advantage is that any such issue will be reported nationally. This can provide information to the HSE so mistakes made in one of the old health board areas can be avoided elsewhere. This is one of the great advantages of the national remit of the HSE.

I note the Minister welcomed the Leas Cross nursing home report in the House last night and that the HSE will work to implement its recommendations as quickly as possible. It is vitally important the team of nursing home inspectors be trained and put in place as soon as possible. There are many excellent private and public nursing homes dotted all over the country. Sligo has St. John's Hospital and Nazareth House as public facilities and Summerville and Mowlam as private ones. I know from my experience of dealing with them they all operate to the highest standards.

There is nothing to fear from having a stringent inspection process. Patients and their families will be reassured by the fact that regular and unannounced inspections will be carried out. The secret to inspections is to make them unannounced. In that way, no one can accuse the institution of being forewarned.

What happened in Leas Cross was totally unacceptable and must not be allowed to occur again. I commend the Minister's actions in this regard and I support the Government amendment to the motion.

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