Tim O'Malley (Limerick East, Progressive Democrats)

I move amendment No. 5:

In page 12, between lines 40 and 41, to insert the following:

7.—The object of the Authority is to promote safety and quality in the provision of health and personal social services for the benefit of the health and welfare of the public.

I hope Deputies Ó Caoláin and Twomey, who tabled amendments Nos. 7 and 8, respectively, will be satisfied to withdraw them on the basis of what I propose, especially given that I had strong regard to what was said during Committee Stage on this subject. As legislators, all Deputies are aware of the need to draft legislation carefully, having regard to what we wish to achieve. Consequently, in framing any legislation it is imperative to distinguish between functions and objectives. Functions are specified in a concrete manner because they relate to the activities that the body in question is required to carry out and they are interpreted accordingly in any legal proceedings involving their consideration. The objectives of any organisation, be it in the private or public sector, are goals it strives to achieve through the proper performance of its functions. Objectives are strategic and serve as means to guide the organisation in carrying out its business.

The functions of the Health Information and Quality Authority, HIQA, are clearly set out in section 7. On the amendments of Deputies Twomey and Ó Caoláin, explicit provision for the setting of standards is already made under this section and the overall objective of promoting safety and quality is implicit in the functions assigned to the authority as a whole, as it is in respect of every health service agency.

To make the Deputies' amendments would be to introduce a vague and unquantifiable element to the authority's functions. However, having considered the points raised on Committee Stage, I believe it would be helpful to set out in the Bill the core objective of HIQA. Its objective is to promote safety and quality in the provision of health and personal social services for the benefit of the health and welfare of the public. Amendment No. 6 expressly provides as a function of the authority that it will seek to further this objective to the extent practicable, and this marries the functions with the objectives to the greatest practicable degree. The joint effect of both amendments is to make certain that the core objective acts as a guiding principle for the new authority in carrying out the tasks associated with its wide remit and ensures the importance of patient safety is rightly recognised.

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