Clare Daly (Dublin North, United Left)
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441. To ask the Minister for Health further to Parliamentary Question No. 667 of 26 May 2015, if he will justify the response received from the Health Service Executive in the context of section 6.4 of the document from its national policy and procedures social care division regarding the safeguarding of vulnerable persons at risk of abuse, which was launched by the HSE in December 2014 and which states that if there is a concern that an adult is vulnerable and may or may not have the capacity to make decisions, the executive may well have obligations towards that person and should consider whether the non-co-operation of the individual is due to issues of capacity, is voluntary or stems from, for example, some form of coercion. [26083/15]

Clare Daly (Dublin North, United Left)
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442. To ask the Minister for Health further to Parliamentary Question No. 667 of 26 May 2015, if he will confirm that a meeting took place with the head of the quality and safety social care division on 11 March 2015 in Castlebar, County Mayo, in the presence of an expert psychologist; and that it was recommended that a cognitive assessment of a person take place. [26084/15]

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 441 and 442 together.

The HSE is committed to safeguarding vulnerable persons from abuse and a national policy Safeguarding Vulnerable Persons at Risk of Abuse was launched in December 2014. The aim of this policy is to provide a consistent approach to protect persons at risk of abuse across, for example, older people and disability services. This new policy is for all HSE and HSE-funded services, and builds upon and incorporates existing policies in this regard. Safeguarding and Protection Teams in each Community Healthcare Organisation are being developed to implement this policy at operational level where concerns arise relating to vulnerable persons.

Safeguarding Vulnerable Persons at Risk of Abusenow provides one overarching policy to which all agencies will subscribe and implement in their place of work ensuring:-

- a consistent approach to protecting vulnerable people from abuse and neglect

- all services have a publicly declared 'No Tolerance' approach to any form of abuse

- a culture which supports that this ethos is promoted.

In light of the above, I have referred the Deputy's question to the HSE for direct reply, in relation to a more detailed response on the specific operational issues raised.