Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)

In her introduction to the National Quality Standards for Residential Care Settings for Older People report, the HIQA chief executive, Dr. Tracey Cooper, stated that:

Once the necessary regulations are in place, the Authority's inspectors will carry out inspections across the public, private and voluntary sectors to ensure that the standards detailed in this report are being met and that residents are receiving the highest quality of care.

The Minister of State has indicated that the draft regulations have been published but the critical question is when they will be implemented. I ask the Minister of State to give a more exact indication of when she expects the draft regulations to become regulations which are in situ and being implemented.

The question of additional personnel has already been posed but what additional resources, across all of the needs that HIQA will identify, will be provided in order to carry out what must be a very extensive and comprehensive programme of inspections in all nursing home settings? What additional resources can we expect HIQA to be given to carry out its functions in the most effective and comprehensive manner?

See this speech in context