David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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580. To ask the Minister for Health the cost of increasing funding for patient advocacy by 10%. [28672/25]

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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The majority of advocacy services are provided or funded through the HSE; a request for information regarding these services has been referred to the HSE who will respond directly to the Deputy in this regard.

One specific advocacy service, the Patient Advocacy Service (PAS) is facilitated by the Department of Health. It was commissioned by my Department in 2019 in order to provide independent support, outside the HSE structures, to those wishing to make a complaint about the care they received in a public acute hospital .

PAS provides a free and independent national service to help service users making or intending to make a formal complaint, regarding the care they have received in a public acute hospital or, since 2021, in nursing homes. PAS also supports patients and their families in the aftermath of a patient safety incident.

Under the current contract, provision of this service is budgeted to cost €3 - €4.5 million per annum, therefore in this regard an increase of 10% would cost in the region of €300,000- 450,000 per year.