Results 45,441-45,460 of 46,575 for speaker:Simon Harris
- Public Accounts Committee: Health Service Executive - Review of Allowances (8 Nov 2012)
Simon Harris: Yes, I am referring to sessional allowances.
- Public Accounts Committee: Health Service Executive - Review of Allowances (8 Nov 2012)
Simon Harris: Absolutely. I accept the point on front-line services but do we have a breakdown on how much of the overtime bill is derived from absenteeism, albeit on the front line?
- Public Accounts Committee: Health Service Executive - Review of Allowances (8 Nov 2012)
Simon Harris: Okay. Does Mr. O'Brien know how much agency nursing costs to replace nurses who are out due to absenteeism?
- Public Accounts Committee: Health Service Executive - Review of Allowances (8 Nov 2012)
Simon Harris: I accept that and I do not want to badger on about the question. I am just trying to work out if the HSE has an estimate of the cost of absenteeism.
- Public Accounts Committee: Health Service Executive - Review of Allowances (8 Nov 2012)
Simon Harris: I take Mr. O'Brien's point, although I am not overly pleased with it. When I speak to private sector companies, they can clearly tell me the cost of absenteeism to their organisations. I accept that Mr. O'Brien is operating off a complex payroll system, but it would be interesting to have an idea of the cost to the taxpayer of absenteeism in the health service. If Mr. O'Brien wants to come...
- Public Accounts Committee: Health Service Executive - Review of Allowances (8 Nov 2012)
Simon Harris: Yes.
- Public Accounts Committee: Health Service Executive - Review of Allowances (8 Nov 2012)
Simon Harris: How much do the agencies cost?
- Public Accounts Committee: Health Service Executive - Review of Allowances (8 Nov 2012)
Simon Harris: Let me try a more straightforward way of putting the question. What is the cost of overtime for nurses?
- Public Accounts Committee: Health Service Executive - Review of Allowances (8 Nov 2012)
Simon Harris: No, I mean what was the total amount spent by the HSE on overtime for nurses in 2011? Am I right in saying that figure is a cumulative one for the whole organisation?
- Public Accounts Committee: Health Service Executive - Review of Allowances (8 Nov 2012)
Simon Harris: I am just wondering if there is a breakdown for the figure of €169,857. How much of that is accounted for by nurses or consultants?
- Public Accounts Committee: Health Service Executive - Review of Allowances (8 Nov 2012)
Simon Harris: Okay.
- Public Accounts Committee: Health Service Executive - Review of Allowances (8 Nov 2012)
Simon Harris: We need a bit more detail before we can form a viewpoint on some of these. I wish to have a quick look at some of the allowances. I understand that the living-out allowance for registrars, house officers and interns is paid to non-consultant doctors who are rotating between hospitals to help them secure temporary accommodation which is not available on the hospital site. In Mr. O'Brien's...
- Public Accounts Committee: Health Service Executive - Review of Allowances (8 Nov 2012)
Simon Harris: Does the HSE hope to review the rate of this allowance?
- Public Accounts Committee: Health Service Executive - Review of Allowances (8 Nov 2012)
Simon Harris: I will now move to allowance No. 23, which is the community allowance. To set this in context, this allowance is to compensate mental health nurses for loss of earnings when moved from a hospital to a community setting. Payment ranges from €4,962 to €5,722 per annum and the allowance cost about €3.4 million in 2011. I have a question arising from anecdotal experience....
- Public Accounts Committee: Health Service Executive - Review of Allowances (8 Nov 2012)
Simon Harris: That is very good news. The idea of paying people because they do not have to work nights or at weekends was a bit bizarre. The GP training allowance is an interesting one and there may well be very good reasons for it. I want to get an understanding of the rationale behind it.
- Public Accounts Committee: Health Service Executive - Review of Allowances (8 Nov 2012)
Simon Harris: The GP training allowance is payable at a rate of €11,430. It is paid to GPs and registrars in an approved scheme in lieu of 120 hours worked outside normal working hours. Considering our GPs go on to establish what one would hope to be profitable practices, is this ever paid back by GPs? Will Mr. O'Brien explain the rationale and why the HSE is subsidising GP training?
- Public Accounts Committee: Health Service Executive - Review of Allowances (8 Nov 2012)
Simon Harris: I take Ms Buckley's point. At this committee, we have already discussed the many allowances submitted that most people acknowledge are core pay. It would have been helpful to have submitted the full breadth of allowances, as other Departments have done, and I am unsure why they have been excluded. It seems at odds with how other Departments have interpreted the review. It is possibly...
- Public Accounts Committee: Health Service Executive - Review of Allowances (8 Nov 2012)
Simon Harris: I do.
- Public Accounts Committee: Health Service Executive - Review of Allowances (8 Nov 2012)
Simon Harris: I accept that point and no one wants to risk patient safety. At the same time, our remit is to try to get as great an overview of all payments beyond core pay and to delve into a discussion of whether certain allowances should be core pay. We have had good discussions on that. Who receives on-call payments?
- Public Accounts Committee: Health Service Executive - Review of Allowances (8 Nov 2012)
Simon Harris: Do consultants receive them?