Joanna Tuffy (Dublin Mid West, Labour)

In respect of the information given to me by the Minister in her last reply, I am not really clear on the month in 2007 that the HSE found out about this but it seems to have taken a few months to tell the Minister. In light of the issue that arose around Portlaoise at the time, the fact that she was not notified sooner was very unsatisfactory. Does the Minister have any comments to make in respect of that?

There have been previous cases of this type where the qualifications of locums have not been checked properly. This has happened on at least one occasion. Is the Minister taking any steps to ensure that the qualifications of locums are properly checked and that they have the required level of supervision?

The Minister said that the patients and GPs have been written to. In light of what happened in respect of Portlaoise and the need to ensure that the interests of patients are put first, will she put in place any additional information for patients? For example, will helplines be made available?

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