Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

First, I would like a comprehensive written reply. Second, the figures the Minister has given are accurate but the timespan is not. The audit was conducted between January 2013, as the Minister said, and November 2014. We are now in December 2016. Patients and families were only contacted in November of this year. There was no contact before that. I know that, intimately and personally. The spinal surgery carried out in the case of which I am aware was inappropriate, hastened the death of the patient and caused absolutely unimaginable pain.

It is unacceptable in the 21st century for a system to seek to protect itself, particularly if we are to learn anything and engender confidence in a public health system. I am asking the Minister to take a hands-on approach and to come back to me and explain how it could possibly take until November 2016 to communicate the relevant information. When will the general findings of the audit be published? What have we learned from it? What has been put in place? When we talk about quality assurance, we are talking about a small number of people who finally complained and whose actions led to concerns being expressed. In the particular case I highlight, no complaints were made and no quality assurance system picked it up. In that case, where death was hastened, unimaginable pain was caused and incorrect procedure was not picked up by any quality assurance system or on foot of any complaints.

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