Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Durkan for the vote of confidence in posing the question and thinking I could do it justice.

The Deputy asked whether the issue relates only to an increase in the size of the claims or is the number of claims increasing. I remember, as a backbench Deputy in the last Dáil, tabling parliamentary questions on the issue of the number of claims. I thought, from looking at headlines in the newspapers in 2014 and 2015, that there had been a massive increase in the number but there has not been such an increase. I do not have the latest figures for 2017 and 2018 but, back in 2015 and 2016, there was no massive increase in the amount of claims. There has been a cultural shift towards open disclosure and we are trying to get people in and deal with that legislatively in order that people will admit and own up to their mistakes and acknowledge and inform the victims. The aim of the Mediation Act is to avoid the courts. There are also periodic payments to try to stagger large payments so they are not all done at the same time.

While we need to reduce the amount of claims, there is an increase in the number of procedures taking place in our hospitals. I do not know the quantity of the pro rataincrease because I have not seen the figures for 2017 and 2018. I suspect there was a pro rataincrease in the amount of claims. I hope not but is it potentially the case.

The establishment of the HSE board will be a positive step towards the oversight of management, holding it to account and ensuring it is not overly bloated. A good, effective board that will challenge the top layer of management of the HSE will be a positive step that will be established in the new year. The four of us here all agree that the levels of management within the HSE need to be challenged, held to account and open to scrutiny.