Liz McManus (Wicklow, Labour)

That is a great pity. We do not propose an indefinite backward period. That HIQA does not have a role in this regard undermines its strength and supports the argument made by those on this side of the House for a patient safety authority. If we look at the record on health, we see that many serious scandals were only unearthed a long time after they began. The Dr. Neary case is a good example of this. It took a long time, even after the health board acted, for the full story to unfold and for justice to begin to be done. It is a pity that it takes a while to expose such situations within the health service. This is not being established on a greenfield site as if nothing had ever happened before the establishment of HIQA. In fact HIQA should have been set up at the same time as the HSE. That was the deal, and the structure was to be such that there would be a watchdog and a new form of management. We never got the watchdog although we got the new form of management which is not always a pretty sight.

The watchdog being introduced has such limited powers that "watchdog" is probably not an accurate term. It is disappointing that HIQA's brief does not include assessing hospitals or investigating other issues. Much was promised with HIQA. It was rolled over with the inspectorate of nursing homes which was not its original function. It was to be an independent authority that would protect the patient. We must wait, however, for a new Government to establish a patient safety authority for a secure system that people can trust. That authority will listen to complaints rather than say that it cannot pay attention to incidents that happened before the date of this legislation, no matter how bad they were. How will HIQA learn if not from past experience? Is that not the best way for us all to learn?

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