The cross-party report aims to explain the role of advocates in an Irish health service context; examines different models of advocacy; and makes some recommendations to improve access to advocacy services for Irish patients and users of social services.

Some of the recommendations include:
• The lack of statutory powers for advocates can prevent them from accessing or supporting vulnerable clients. Consideration should be given to commencing the relevant sections of the Citizens’ Information Act 2007 to resolve this issue.
• The HSE should consider giving more formal recognition to the role of advocates who are working to support vulnerable clients.
• Elected representatives have experienced difficulties making representations to hospitals and other health services on behalf of constituents, and these issues should be resolved.
• The Committee supports moves to extend the remit of the Office of the Ombudsman to clinical cases. Ideally, there should be a single streamlined pathway for complaints in the Irish health service. The Committee supports the further development of the www.healthcomplaints.ie website to help achieve this.
• Any new patient advocacy service should be independent of the Health Service Executive. Funding should be ring-fenced and independent of the service provider to support its activities and to ensure its independence.
• A Code of Practice for advocacy services should be developed by agreement between key national stakeholders. This would ensure that all professional and voluntary advocates operate to the same ethical and legal standards.