Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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191. To ask the Minister for Health as per the Health Information and Quality Authority regulatory notice (details supplied) the reason community nursing units Ballina and Swinford district hospitals are not required to register with HIQA and not subject to authority inspection; is it the case that all community nursing units are required under Part 8 of the Health Act 2007 to fully register all aspects of their services with HIQA; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20422/14]

Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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192. To ask the Minister for Health as per the Health Information and Quality Authority regulatory notice RN002/2013 and the Health Service Executive correspondence (details supplied), the reason community nursing units at Ballina and Swinford district hospitals are not regarded as designated centres under the 2009 regulations arising from Health Act 2007 and do not require registration with HIQA; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20423/14]

Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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193. To ask the Minister for Health as per the Health Information and Quality Authority regulatory notice RN002/2013 (details supplied), his views that private and voluntary nursing homes are rightly subject to the Health and Information Quality Authority registration and inspection but Ballina and Swinford district hospitals and community nursing units are not subject to same registration and inspection process [20424/14]

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 191 to 193, inclusive, together.

Under the Health Act, 2007 statutory responsibility is given to the Chief Inspector of Social Services, in the Health Information and Quality Authority for registration and inspection of categories of designated centres, including nursing homes for older people. The Chief Inspector is independent in the exercise of his statutory function. It is a matter for the Chief Inspector to decide whether facilities, irrespective of whether the service is public, private or voluntary, meet the definition of a designated centre and are therefore subject to this regulatory regime.

The definition of a "designated centre" is contained in Section 2 of the Health Act, 2007. That definition does not include, inter alia, "that part of an institution in which the majority of persons being cared for and maintained are being treated for acute illness or provided with palliative care." I have been advised by HIQA that the Chief Inspector of the Social Services has determined that neither Ballina District Hospital nor Swinford District Hospital is regarded as a designated centre, on the basis that the majority of patients in both are on an acute care pathway.