Results 22,841-22,860 of 26,795 for speaker:David Cullinane

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

David Cullinane: We were obviously hoping we could get consensus on this. My support is there because I want public-only contracts. It was always my view that we could be flexible on off site work so I am glad that has happened. However, if we want to get to a point where we have public-only hospitals providing public-only work, it is important these contracts are in place. I welcome that there is a...

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

David Cullinane: What happens in the case they do not support it? We hope there will be a positive response from them. If there is not a positive response, what will the process then be?

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

David Cullinane: That is fair. Once the contracts are in place, it would be the hope that those contracts would enable us to recruit more consultants, because that was one of the arguments that was made for a long time by those representative bodies. Maybe Mr. Mulvany will want to address that point. We have a lot of vacant positions and we know it can be difficult to recruit consultants. We know...

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

David Cullinane: No, I think that is an adequate response. That is okay. I want to make one final point on the elective-only hospitals. Obviously, everything that has been said so far on those are sentiments I would agree with. We have had this tension for a long time between scheduled and unscheduled care. The first casualty of higher demand on unscheduled care is elective procedures. They get...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Recruitment, Retention and Manpower Planning Issues: Irish College of General Practitioners (14 Dec 2022)

David Cullinane: Dr. Farrell's opening statement sets out the challenges we have in this area, which are quite sobering. We all know people are waiting longer. As he said, the anecdotal evidence from people we deal with is that people are waiting longer to see a GP. A wait time of a day or three days for an appointment has become weeks in some areas, though not in all areas. It is becoming more common....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Recruitment, Retention and Manpower Planning Issues: Irish College of General Practitioners (14 Dec 2022)

David Cullinane: Is the 700 over a five-year period?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Recruitment, Retention and Manpower Planning Issues: Irish College of General Practitioners (14 Dec 2022)

David Cullinane: Okay, 500 is still significant. How will we get to 6,000 by 2028? We need 4,000 additional GPs. In reality - we need to be straight - do we have any chance of reaching or getting anywhere near the target of 6,000 on current training models and funding?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Recruitment, Retention and Manpower Planning Issues: Irish College of General Practitioners (14 Dec 2022)

David Cullinane: Yet we need 6,000. How did we end up in a situation where we need 6,000 GPs and yet we have no plan of substance to get anywhere near 6,000? What is the witnesses' best estimate for what we could achieve by 2028?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Recruitment, Retention and Manpower Planning Issues: Irish College of General Practitioners (14 Dec 2022)

David Cullinane: Does that include retirements?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Recruitment, Retention and Manpower Planning Issues: Irish College of General Practitioners (14 Dec 2022)

David Cullinane: Mr. Foy thinks we could reach 4,500 by 2028.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Recruitment, Retention and Manpower Planning Issues: Irish College of General Practitioners (14 Dec 2022)

David Cullinane: My problem is that a health service cannot be built on hope. It does not work. There must be real targets with funding behind them and certainty we can do it. Many of these targets are unachievable, there is no plan on how to get there and the numbers are being put out that we hope to get to. No one can give me a guarantee that the ICGP will reach 4,500 by 2028.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Recruitment, Retention and Manpower Planning Issues: Irish College of General Practitioners (14 Dec 2022)

David Cullinane: We also need to double the number of general practice nurses-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Recruitment, Retention and Manpower Planning Issues: Irish College of General Practitioners (14 Dec 2022)

David Cullinane: -----over the same period, by 2028. Is that correct?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Recruitment, Retention and Manpower Planning Issues: Irish College of General Practitioners (14 Dec 2022)

David Cullinane: I will stop Dr. Quinlan there. The official training body, the ICGP is telling me we do not have enough GPs and by 2028 we still will not have enough GPs.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Recruitment, Retention and Manpower Planning Issues: Irish College of General Practitioners (14 Dec 2022)

David Cullinane: Dr. Quinlan just said that by the ICGP's own measurement, even by 2028, looking five years down the road, we will still not have enough GPs.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Recruitment, Retention and Manpower Planning Issues: Irish College of General Practitioners (14 Dec 2022)

David Cullinane: We are dealing with this State, which has a particular challenge. That makes for sobering reading. I will build on that. We are at a point where we have 2,807 full time equivalent GPs. Maybe about 700 are going to retire, 500 of whom are whole-time equivalents. We have to get to 6,000 by 2028 if we want to provide the best general practice service we can provide. By April of this year,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Recruitment, Retention and Manpower Planning Issues: Irish College of General Practitioners (14 Dec 2022)

David Cullinane: That is what I am saying. In the budget this year there was a big announcement of an additional 300,000 patients or more, plus the six-years-olds and seven-year-olds. A figure close to 400,000 new patients will have GP-only cards. Is that not correct?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Recruitment, Retention and Manpower Planning Issues: Irish College of General Practitioners (14 Dec 2022)

David Cullinane: The Minister outlined the timeframe. In the budget he said it was April of next year and that there would be engagement with the Irish College of General Practitioners and other representative bodies, including the Irish Medical Organisation, IMO, to reach the point where this would be in place by April of next year. Is the system ready for that, from the perspective of the Irish College of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Recruitment, Retention and Manpower Planning Issues: Irish College of General Practitioners (14 Dec 2022)

David Cullinane: What would be the consequences of doing it? From the witnesses' perspective, if on April 1 next year, 400,000 get a new GP card as the Minister wants, what will happen in the short to medium term, for example?