Results 20,861-20,880 of 24,567 for speaker:Róisín Shortall

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Sláintecare Implementation: Discussion (Resumed) (7 Dec 2022)

Róisín Shortall: I welcome the witnesses and thank them for their presentations. Mr. Watt's opening statement refers to refocusing the health service and moving away from acute hospitals to community care and developing the area of social care. This is a key element of Sláintecare. I agree that there are very positive signs about framing that process of refocusing. The proposed hubs are a very good...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Sláintecare Implementation: Discussion (Resumed) (7 Dec 2022)

Róisín Shortall: Sorry, but the Department is dealing with multiple crises every day. That is not a reflection on Mr. Watt.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Sláintecare Implementation: Discussion (Resumed) (7 Dec 2022)

Róisín Shortall: It is like fixing an aircraft while in flight. That is the analogy.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Sláintecare Implementation: Discussion (Resumed) (7 Dec 2022)

Róisín Shortall: Sure, but we need the list of functions and who is doing what. Will we get that list?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Sláintecare Implementation: Discussion (Resumed) (7 Dec 2022)

Róisín Shortall: Mr. Mulvany said that the RHAs will feed in to those. Surely that should be designed beforehand?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Sláintecare Implementation: Discussion (Resumed) (7 Dec 2022)

Róisín Shortall: That is different now.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Sláintecare Implementation: Discussion (Resumed) (7 Dec 2022)

Róisín Shortall: Before that happens, there is a question of what powers will be given to RHAs and what functions will stay centrally or be devolved.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Sláintecare Implementation: Discussion (Resumed) (7 Dec 2022)

Róisín Shortall: How is that going to be decided and when will we know that?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Sláintecare Implementation: Discussion (Resumed) (7 Dec 2022)

Róisín Shortall: I have one final brief question on the business case and the proposal to opt for number two in the list of three options. Does Mr. Watt accept now that it constrains the health service in terms of restructuring? Does he accept that there is a need to revisit that Cabinet decision?

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Service 2022
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (Resumed) (6 Dec 2022)

Róisín Shortall: Under the HSE’s core operations, savings, as they are called, of €500 million in pay costs have been made. This is in the context of very many health services simply not functioning properly and some of them not functioning at all, because of the lack of staff or of any workforce plan of any significance, along with all the other issues relating to housing, culture within the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Sláintecare Implementation: Discussion (Resumed) (7 Dec 2022)

Róisín Shortall: I warmly welcome the decision by the Cabinet this morning to approve the public-only consultant contract. It is a very important breakthrough. As we know, that proposal was a key element of Sláintecare. I hope it will now clear the way for the filling of the 900 vacant posts within hospitals and, most importantly, clear the way for the introduction of timely access to care for public...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Sláintecare Implementation: Discussion (Resumed) (7 Dec 2022)

Róisín Shortall: Okay. In Mr. Watt's absence, I welcomed the news on the Sláintecare contract. I congratulate everybody who has been involved in this very welcome and long overdue breakthrough. As I understand it, the Minister has indicated that there will be funding for 1,000 posts. Is that correct? I thought that was in the press statement. What number of posts has been funded for next year?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Sláintecare Implementation: Discussion (Resumed) (7 Dec 2022)

Róisín Shortall: The timing is critically important for patients, but also to signal very clearly to existing NCHDs that are probably planning to go away in the coming month, and also to encourage the many Irish-trained doctors who are abroad to come back. It is important that this is given absolute priority and that the recruitment process is set in train as quickly as possible.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Sláintecare Implementation: Discussion (Resumed) (7 Dec 2022)

Róisín Shortall: I think it is fair to say that it is a very attractive contract for lots of different reasons.   I want to move on to the other issue that was coming before the Cabinet, which is elective hospitals. What is the story with the hospital for Dublin? What is holding up that announcement? Could Mr. Watt also confirm that it will be a full elective hospital? It was quite disappointing...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Sláintecare Implementation: Discussion (Resumed) (7 Dec 2022)

Róisín Shortall: That is quite disappointing because a lot of the cases on the long waiting lists would require inpatient care.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Sláintecare Implementation: Discussion (Resumed) (7 Dec 2022)

Róisín Shortall: Is Mr. Tierney talking about expanding the hospital or-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Sláintecare Implementation: Discussion (Resumed) (7 Dec 2022)

Róisín Shortall: -----re-using different aspects of it?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Sláintecare Implementation: Discussion (Resumed) (7 Dec 2022)

Róisín Shortall: In relation to the three hospitals, is there potential for having a single design?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Sláintecare Implementation: Discussion (Resumed) (7 Dec 2022)

Róisín Shortall: A lot could be learned from the private sector in that regard. I refer to the Sports Surgery Clinic in Santry, for example, which motors through waiting lists very quickly. It would be great if we could do the same. On the Dublin hospital, the Sláintecare committee modelled this on what had been done in Edinburgh, where NHS Scotland purchased a private hospital. Has that been...