Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am strongly of the view that any new patient advocacy service should be set up independently of the HSE from the outset. For this reason, the HSE removed reference to the establishment of an interim patient advocacy agency from its service plan for 2015. My view has been supported by the recent recommendation made in the HIQA investigation report on services at Portlaoise hospital on the need to establish an independent patient advocacy service. HIQA's recommendation is that an independent patient advocacy service should be in place by May 2016. I fully agree with the recommendation and intend to see it implemented in advance of the timeline provided by HIQA.

The scope, role and functions of the independent advocacy service will be considered, with the appropriate structural, governance and funding arrangements that need to be put in place. My Department will be consulting widely on the best way to get the service up and running in the shortest possible timeframe. The role of the independent patient advocacy service will be to support and advocate for patients in their dealings with the health service. Regrettably, the health service has not been as responsive to patients who have had bad experiences as is required. A patient advocacy service can assist in redressing the balance in the relationship between patients and service providers.

Enforcement and implementation of HIQA recommendations are also essential. Creation of a further body, with a potentially overlapping role with existing statutory bodies such as HIQA, is not my preferred solution. In many ways, HIQA is already a patient advocacy agency and has very strong powers to monitor service providers' compliance with national standards, conduct targeted inspections and make recommendations. As part of my 2015 priorities, I committed to developing a new mechanism for demonstrating that HIQA's recommendations were being implemented by the HSE. Discussions are under way between my Department, HIQA and the HSE to finalise this mechanism which will see action plans to implement HIQA's recommendations transparently reported on and monitored. In the meantime, I have put in place a specific oversight mechanism for the implementation of the recommendations made in the Portlaoise hospital report. This process will be chaired by the Chief Medical Officer and will submit monthly reports to me which I will publish on a quarterly basis.

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