Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We discussed this amendment on Committee Stage as well and I acknowledge the intent of it. This amendment has a constructive intent. However, I cannot accept the amendment because the Independent Patient Advocacy Service is not a statutory one. Therefore, we cannot refer to a non-statutory service in statute. However, there are various things we can do and are continuing to do. We need significant investment in awareness training and in campaigns, not just in cancer screening but right across the HSE so that people are aware of patient advocacy, including the patient advisory service. The Deputy understandably references that there should be patient advocacy involved in the part V review. I would agree wholeheartedly with that. Rather than that being in statute, for the reason I have laid out, as part of the ongoing design of the patient-requested review, which is done with the patient groups, we can identify exactly what the most appropriate way for that is in a way that works for the patient.

I will take this opportunity to commend the work that the Independent Patient Advocacy Service does.

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