Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 4 December 2019

Select Committee on Health

Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary)

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

They are both very pertinent and obvious in looking at the Estimates. We can see there are two pinch points that have been identified very astutely by the Chairman. They are recognised readily. I agree with the Chairman that they need continued focus. The first is the cross-border scheme and it relates to capacity in our system. We can keep purchasing the services where there is capacity or we could use that money to invest in infrastructure. To its credit, the HSE has opened an additional cataract theatre in Nenagh this year, as the Chairman knows. Waiting lists for that treatment have decreased significantly, and numbers have almost halved. I do not have the figures off the top of my head but we will have them for next week's quarterly meeting. The numbers have been significantly reduced because of the additional capacity. There could be further capacity and we might be better off spending €2 million, €3 million or €4 million on a new theatre as opposed to spending that money in other ways. People are waiting for the treatment today, however, and a theatre takes a year to come on stream. It is about getting that balance right.

I mentioned in my opening comments that the number of claims to the State Claims Agency is not rising, which is interesting, and an increase in awards is driving up the figures. Every day we get up our first priority is patient safety and we must continue to drive that agenda from every aspect of the health service. It is ultimately the best way to deal with this. In tandem with this, the level of awards, which is outside of my direct jurisdiction, is an issue across the board in society. It is being addressed currently.

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