2 May 2017, 16:15
The Joint Committee on Health will tomorrow meet to address concerns that some residential centres for people with disabilities are not in compliance with regulations laid down in the Health Acts. In Session A the Committee will hear from representatives from the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) and in Session B, the Committee will hear from representatives from the National Federation of Voluntary Bodies (NFVB).
Session A of the meeting will commence at 1.30pm in Committee Room 3 tomorrow, Wednesday, 3 May 2017 and Session B will commence at 3.00pm.
Committee Chairman Dr. Michael Harty TD said “Tomorrow the Committee will have the opportunity to take a detailed look at the regulation of residential centres for people with disabilities in Ireland. In our meeting with HIQA and the NFVB, we will examine a broad range of issues such as; the extent of the current resources available, recent media reports that some residential centres are not in compliance with regulations, where we stand in terms of best practice, the areas where we must increase regulation, how we address evolving service needs and what the future of service capabilities should look like.”
“The safeguarding of vulnerable service users and accountability is of fundamental importance to confidence in the system and we welcome the expert opinions of both HIQA and the NFVB, as the national umbrella organisation for voluntary agencies, in this regard. We look forward to hearing more about their proposals for improving service capacity and protecting those that need it the most.”
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