Sinn Fein health spokesperson in Derry Councillor Sandra Duffy
The board quit en masse over the handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
The nine former board members of the Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority (RQIA) claim they were not consulted on a number of decisions taken by the Department of Health.
These included ending inspections of care homes and re-deploying senior RQIA staff to other health bodies.
Figures from the NI Statistics and Research Agency have shown that more than half of all deaths in the North of Ireland from COVID-19 had happened in residential care homes.
The local Sinn Fein health spokesperson said: “I am deeply concerned that the entire RQIA board felt it necessary to resign.
“My party colleague Colm Gildernew MLA has sought details from the Health Minister on the ‘number’ of resignations referenced in his press statement last week but that appears to have been a gross understatement.
“We are calling on the Minister of Health to come forward and explain the circumstances which led to this unprecedented action by the health and social care regulator, in the middle of a public health pandemic.
“It is essential that the Minister of Health urgently explains to all the services and service users who rely on the RQIA to function, how the role of the regulator will continue to provide vital services to support and inspect health and social care services.”
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