It remains to be seen how these amendments will work out in practice, but the substantive amendment in this grouping, which is amendment No. 26, seems limited in subsection (10) to long-stay residential facilities. Again, one of the issues HIQA raised with me was that this does not cover patient safety incidents in centres for people with disabilities, for example, or in other healthcare facilities. The Minister might confirm if that is the case and, if so, why.

I move amendment No. 15: In page 10, after line 38, to insert the following: “Report on Operation and Scope of the Act by the Patient Safety Council 4. (1) The Patient Safety Council, so established by the Minister for Health, shall furnish to the Minister a report, subject to subsection (2) , within the first 3 months of each year. (2) The Report of the Patient Safety Council shall review the operation of this Act in the prior year and shall include: (a) the views of stakeholders referred to in this Act and others…

On that basis I will withdraw the amendment.

I move amendment No. 16: In page 12, between lines 33 and 34, to insert the following: “(2)(a) A health services provider shall ensure and make every effort to ensure that the patient and relevant person are informed as to the potential for engaging and sourcing a patient advocate. (b) A health services provider shall ensure a relevant patient is aware of the Patient Advocacy Service, and shall ensure the involvement of the Patient Advocacy Service where a patient wants to avail of such services. (c) A health servi…

It was in the context of the Part 5 review that the amendment was explicitly brought but, as the Minister said, it is a broader point about patient advocacy services. On the Part 5 review, when there is engagement with the stakeholders, the 221+ group and others, I would welcome that area of the patient advocacy services being part of it. It plays an important function for some people who find it hard to navigate systems. We ourselves find it difficult at times and we deal with these issues all of the time, as do o…

I move amendment No. 3 to amendment No. 19: In the first line of section 35(2), to delete "health services provider" and substitute "cancer screening service".

I move amendment No. 4 to amendment No. 19: In the fourth line of section 35(3), after "provider" to insert ", subject to any guidelines issued by the Minister,".

I move amendment No. 5 to amendment No. 19: In section 35, to insert the following subsection after subsection (3): "(4) The Minister may make guidelines in respect of the form of the review referred to in subsection (3).

I support the amendment. This section is problematic. This goes back to what I said earlier about Dr. Scally's report, which is this is one of the areas he is most certainly not satisfied that enough has been done. He specifically cited this part of the Act as problematic. A number of high-profile cases have come before the High Court in recent weeks, regarding mistakes and errors that formed part of clinical judgments. These were often in cases of clinical negligence or questionable clinical judgments being made b…

I support those sentiments. I accept that the offer the Minister made was made in good faith, but he should accept that Dr. Scally's report was published a long time ago. The most recent report was a progress report. It was an implementation report so it was a scorecard essentially on what was done and what was not done. There was sufficient time for the Government to have dealt with this issue. It was something that the Joint Committee on Health spent a lot of time on during pre-legislative scrutiny. There are man…

I, too, remember Vicky Phelan and all the other women who, unfortunately, are not with us today and their families. The 221+ group has done a phenomenal piece of work over recent years in campaigning on a range of issues, and this is one of those core issues for the group. I commend each and every one of them and all those with whom I have engaged on their courage and the respect and strength they have shown in making sure we get this right. It was an inspiration to all of us. Again, I thank the Minister for his co…

I am sharing time with my colleagues. I welcome the two Ministers. In the past two weeks, we learned that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael Ministers knew that tens of thousands of families with medical cards had been wrongfully charged for nursing home care to which they were entitled. That includes up to 9,000 people in long-term residential disability services who were charged so-called voluntary contributions. It includes potentially tens of thousands more families who were forced to fork out for private nursing home c…

Hear, hear.

Hear, hear.

The legal advice is the Government has not a leg to stand on.

How about not acting illegally in the first place?

How about not acting illegally?

Hear, hear.

It was the same strategy.

The Taoiseach said yesterday that members of the Government were on a distribution list.