Results 7,521-7,540 of 12,738 for speaker:Louise O'Reilly

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Budget Management and Control of Health Expenditure in the context of Budget 2020: Discussion (9 Jul 2019)

Louise O'Reilly: My point was a very simple one, namely, that if the witnesses do not know how much we are spending on this, then they cannot be sure that we will recoup the cost of it from the private paying patients. If we do not know how much it is, we will never know if the money has been recouped. It is fairly simple mathematics.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Budget Management and Control of Health Expenditure in the context of Budget 2020: Discussion (9 Jul 2019)

Louise O'Reilly: Okay, I will come back in.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Budget Management and Control of Health Expenditure in the context of Budget 2020: Discussion (9 Jul 2019)

Louise O'Reilly: I will ask a few questions. I will also keep an eye on the time, so I apologise for my previous contribution. We are here to discuss the budget. Members will know that what I am about to raise is one of my hobby-horses, so there will be no surprises. Even the Minister for Health has agreed with me that directly employed home help assistants and home help assistants who work for...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Budget Management and Control of Health Expenditure in the context of Budget 2020: Discussion (9 Jul 2019)

Louise O'Reilly: What are they?

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Budget Management and Control of Health Expenditure in the context of Budget 2020: Discussion (9 Jul 2019)

Louise O'Reilly: I agree. The targets have been set. We see from the correspondence that the Department gets reports but the officials may not have them here today. Does the Department report on how those targets are being achieved?

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Budget Management and Control of Health Expenditure in the context of Budget 2020: Discussion (9 Jul 2019)

Louise O'Reilly: Where can I get those reports?

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Budget Management and Control of Health Expenditure in the context of Budget 2020: Discussion (9 Jul 2019)

Louise O'Reilly: Very well, I am asking. Mr. Mulvany can send them to me. Mr. Mulvany knows that home help is a cause very close to my heart. The directly employed not for profit organisations represent significantly better value for money yet an increasing amount goes into the corporate private sector where the hourly cost is higher.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Budget Management and Control of Health Expenditure in the context of Budget 2020: Discussion (9 Jul 2019)

Louise O'Reilly: According to a response to a parliamentary question it is coming in higher. Let us say I am right and it is higher, would Mr. Mulvany not think it would make more sense to reorientate the service towards directly employed and not for profits and away from the most expensive forms? It is the same as agency staff. I understand that the Department does it when it has to but there is a...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Budget Management and Control of Health Expenditure in the context of Budget 2020: Discussion (9 Jul 2019)

Louise O'Reilly: The balance is going out of kilter. It stretches credibility that at this stage there is no capital plan, yet we know that capital projects will proceed. In the absence of a plan, who is making those decisions and would Mr. Mulvany not accept that there is also a perception that a capital plan exists somewhere but it has not been published?

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Budget Management and Control of Health Expenditure in the context of Budget 2020: Discussion (9 Jul 2019)

Louise O'Reilly: I appreciate that but I was not here.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Budget Management and Control of Health Expenditure in the context of Budget 2020: Discussion (9 Jul 2019)

Louise O'Reilly: One final question, while I fully understand this is a budget meeting, where people are not offered permanent contracts where permanent jobs exist and where agency workers have been converted to directly employed staff do they break the ceiling? For example, if an agency worker costs €15 an hour and a directly employed person costs €10 an hour and two agency staff are converted...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Budget Management and Control of Health Expenditure in the context of Budget 2020: Discussion (9 Jul 2019)

Louise O'Reilly: There is not a great incentive for management in that case to do that conversion, if they are short of personnel.

Written Answers — Department of Health: Cannabis for Medicinal Use (4 Jul 2019)

Louise O'Reilly: 233. To ask the Minister for Health the arrangements in place to facilitate access to the compassionate access programme for medicinal cannabis for persons in Northern Ireland; if a protocol exists for access; if not, if one is being devised; if, in the interim, access can be arranged; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28818/19]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Medical Card Eligibility (4 Jul 2019)

Louise O'Reilly: 234. To ask the Minister for Health the reason persons living with fibromyalgia are not covered under the medical card and the GMS. [28819/19]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Respite Care Services Funding (4 Jul 2019)

Louise O'Reilly: 235. To ask the Minister for Health if the HSE has cut funding for a respite services summer camp for children with special needs at a location (details supplied). [28820/19]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Health Services Staff Data (4 Jul 2019)

Louise O'Reilly: 236. To ask the Minister for Health further to Parliamentary Question No. 163 of 12 June 2019, the action he will be taking to protect health service staff from assaults [28822/19]

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Supplementary Report of Scoping Inquiry into CervicalCheck Programme: Discussion (4 Jul 2019)

Louise O'Reilly: I thank the witnesses for coming in this afternoon and for always making themselves available to answer questions. It is very welcome. The witnesses have said that CervicalCheck is a decent programme for an organised screening programme. That is true. I am more than happy to say that I am a beneficiary of that programme in more ways than one and am grateful for it in many respects. When...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Supplementary Report of Scoping Inquiry into CervicalCheck Programme: Discussion (4 Jul 2019)

Louise O'Reilly: It is regrettable that that documentation is not available. Dr. Denton referred to how well the screening programme compares with other programmes of a similar nature. However, those programmes may have more of an emphasis on quality. Am I right in saying that the things that work well in the programme are administrative details, such as the fact that every woman between 18 and 65 is...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Supplementary Report of Scoping Inquiry into CervicalCheck Programme: Discussion (4 Jul 2019)

Louise O'Reilly: It is one of the natural consequences of outsourcing. Once one goes down that road, one is constantly chasing the price rather than other matters. When something is outsourced, one's capacity to oversee quality assurance is also outsourced to a certain extent. We see a very hands-off approach to quality assurance. I do not mean this disrespectfully but this retrospective accreditation...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Supplementary Report of Scoping Inquiry into CervicalCheck Programme: Discussion (4 Jul 2019)

Louise O'Reilly: The information to which Dr. Scally had access did not include a laboratory-by-laboratory breakdown.