Results 1,821-1,840 of 8,600 for speaker:Seán Crowe

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: General Scheme of the Health (Amendment) Bill 2022: Department of Health (23 Nov 2022)

Seán Crowe: The Bill covers the most vulnerable people in society, that is, children, people with disabilities and the elderly. One of the big challenges which is going on in accident and emergency departments at present, is that relatives have no access. Many of the hospitals are locked down because of the pandemic. That is a key piece of information. I imagine that the majority of complaints come...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: General Scheme of the Health (Amendment) Bill 2022: Department of Health (23 Nov 2022)

Seán Crowe: On finding suitable placements, it has been stated that designated facilities come under the Health Act. There has not really been a focus on this in the discussion. There are big challenges when it comes to finding places for people, in particular for children and those in the disability sector. That is the view of many of the families who have tried finding a place for their children....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: General Scheme of the Health (Amendment) Bill 2022: Department of Health (23 Nov 2022)

Seán Crowe: I am still confused. Let us say a holiday home has been used quite a number of times for children with special needs because there is nowhere else to put them. If the holiday home is used more than once, does that make it a designated facility? I do not ask my question in an effort to catch out officials.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: General Scheme of the Health (Amendment) Bill 2022: Department of Health (23 Nov 2022)

Seán Crowe: I asked my question on behalf of families who are in that situation and seek supports, etc. One would like to think these children would be safe in such situations. There must be follow-up in terms of inspections and everything else.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: General Scheme of the Health (Amendment) Bill 2022: Department of Health (23 Nov 2022)

Seán Crowe: Deputy Cullinane covered issues concerning head 15 earlier. Ms Casey stated: "Head 15 will introduce a number of offences carrying a proportionate range of targeted penalties to ensure the effective operation of these new tools", which are advance notices, non-compliance notices and urgent orders. What happens if there is no response? Are the penalties proportionate bearing in mind that...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: General Scheme of the Health (Amendment) Bill 2022: Department of Health (23 Nov 2022)

Seán Crowe: Reference was made to the staffing and skills mix. Is there a focus on workforce planning in the Bill? It is a stretch but a major infection vector that was identified was the deployment of agency staff across multiple venues during the pandemic, which meant Covid-19 spread through nursing homes.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: General Scheme of the Health (Amendment) Bill 2022: Department of Health (23 Nov 2022)

Seán Crowe: The other issue that came up during the debate, which may be impacted by the legislation, is the transfer of elderly patients without proper testing. This was another serious problem. In some cases, they were taken out of nursing home or, vice versa, they were transferred from hospital back to nursing home without proper testing. Many of them were infected. Is that covered under the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: General Scheme of the Health (Amendment) Bill 2022: Department of Health (23 Nov 2022)

Seán Crowe: Another area that, again, came up when we talked about weakness was the new integrated community support teams. The importance is that there would be someone available in nursing homes in each area. Is that a key element of the support around this Bill?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: General Scheme of the Health (Amendment) Bill 2022: Department of Health (23 Nov 2022)

Seán Crowe: I appreciate that our witnesses came in this morning. It was very helpful and there was good debate. As a committee, we will have to decide how we will progress the Bill. We are still waiting on different sectors. HIQA is outstanding and we will probably have representatives in for a meeting on this. I thank Ms Casey and her colleagues from the Department for assisting the committee in...

Dublin City Safety Initiatives and Other Services: Statements (17 Nov 2022)

Seán Crowe: We all have a vision of the Dublin we would like to see. It needs to be a safe place. I have never been frightened to go into any area of the city, but I know other people who have been frightened to do so. I know people who are terrified in their own homes every night of the week. It also needs to be a place in which ordinary people can afford to live. I do not think any other speakers...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Business of Joint Committee (16 Nov 2022)

Seán Crowe: The minutes of the three meetings held on 8 and 9 November 2022 have been circulated to members for consideration. Are the minutes agreed? Agreed. Before we begin, I would like to send the solidarity and sympathies of this committee to the family and friends of Vicky Phelan. Ms Phelan was a powerful advocate for women put in the most awful position and will be sorely missed. Her...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: HSE Winter Plan 2022-2023: HSE (16 Nov 2022)

Seán Crowe: The purpose of this meeting is to consider the HSE's winter plan for 2022-2023. To enable the committee to consider this matter further, I am pleased to welcome from the Health Service Executive Mr. Stephen Mulvany, chief executive officer; Mr. Damien McCallion, chief operations officer; Dr. Mike O'Connor, national clinical adviser, acute operations; Ms Mary Day, national director, acute...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: HSE Winter Plan 2022-2023: HSE (16 Nov 2022)

Seán Crowe: Before I open up to questions, it would be remiss of me not to wish committee member, Deputy Lahart, well and a speedy recovery from his recent health challenge. I will move straight into questions and invite Deputy Burke to begin.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: HSE Winter Plan 2022-2023: HSE (16 Nov 2022)

Seán Crowe: Senator Conway, let Mr. Mulvany answer the question, please.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: HSE Winter Plan 2022-2023: HSE (16 Nov 2022)

Seán Crowe: I have a few questions. I will focus on the National Ambulance Service initiatives, including deployment of rapid handover teams. Will the HSE expand on what is involved in that? My concern arises from the fact that, at one stage two weeks ago, there were 11 ambulances outside Tallaght hospital. Ten were Dublin Fire Brigade ambulances. I know this because a number of constituents...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: HSE Winter Plan 2022-2023: HSE (16 Nov 2022)

Seán Crowe: The response from the hospital at the time was that it was down to a lack of beds. It has a plan for a 72-bed unit which is currently going through the system and will help resolve the situation. Can I focus again on the headline of unscheduled care activity and the figures in relation to 75-year-olds and older? There is an increase of 14.1% on the same period in 2019. Emergency...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: HSE Winter Plan 2022-2023: HSE (16 Nov 2022)

Seán Crowe: The big concern is that we are not into the proper flu season yet but with the challenges emergency departments are going through at the moment, it looks like it will be a very difficult winter.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: HSE Winter Plan 2022-2023: HSE (16 Nov 2022)

Seán Crowe: The debate has gone outside discussing the winter plan. Deputy Shortall is next.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: HSE Winter Plan 2022-2023: HSE (16 Nov 2022)

Seán Crowe: A number of issues were raised during our discussion. The witnesses have said they will come back to us in regard to workforce planning, overall waiting lists and several other matters. This has been a useful meeting. We wish the HSE well with its winter plan. A number of members questioned the credibility of the plan and asked whether additional beds, staff and so on that have been...

Retained Firefighters: Motion [Private Members] (15 Nov 2022)

Seán Crowe: It is a daily occurrence where fire service vehicles are unavailable for deployment due to insufficient firefighters to crew them. Staff constantly battle exhaustion because of repeated requests to work overtime and cover staff shortages. That is what I am told by the firefighters. Simply put, we are putting our firefighters and the public in danger. We are gambling with people’s...