Results 25,701-25,720 of 49,836 for speaker:Stephen Donnelly

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Hospital Waiting Lists (15 Feb 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: Phil Ní Sheaghdha and I spoke yesterday about many of these issues. I will visit Limerick on Thursday when I will go directly to the hospital and meet the hospital group. The Deputy is right in identifying the ongoing pressures there in spite of investment, increased resources and a new emergency department. The pressure is still not acceptable in Limerick or in Galway and other...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Hospital Waiting Lists (15 Feb 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: I largely agree with the Deputy. I had a high-level meeting with the HSE on exactly this matter in the past few days. There are still some issues related to Covid. One point the HSE raised with me was that about half the nursing homes have Covid outbreaks. We have a protocol in place whereby one must wait 28 days, two full cycles of Covid, before anyone can be discharged. As the Deputy...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Hospital Waiting Lists (15 Feb 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: This is one of the most pressing areas of the waiting lists. Children are waiting for orthopaedic surgery, whether spinal surgery or surgery for scoliosis, spina bifida, hip deformities or a range of other conditions. Some are being treated quickly, which is a great testament to our clinicians and health service, but far too many are having to wait for far too long. It is not acceptable...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Hospital Waiting Lists (15 Feb 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Deputy. What I asked for from the HSE was an ambitious plan that would get these children the care they need as quickly as possible. I am not interested in solving it over a five-year period; we have got to solve it now. We have paediatric orthopaedic surgeons who do not have the operating theatre time they need. We have operating theatres that are open between 9 p.m. and 5...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Hospital Waiting Lists (15 Feb 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: Yes, the plan is for end-to-end care. One of the surgeons at the meeting last week made a related point. He said we are not funding individual surgeries in this regard; we are funding care for children. He said several of these children may have to go in for multiple surgeries and they may need multiple surgeries this year. Thus, the targets are not around individual operations. What we...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Hospital Waiting Lists (15 Feb 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: Yes, absolutely. It is something we have discussed - both Monday to Friday and opening earlier and later. It is something that happens in the adult private world. The operating theatres run longer as do the diagnostic suites. The operating theatres are open on Saturdays and sometimes Sundays. In fact, the HSE sometimes uses the private facilities sometimes on a Saturday. It is a "Yes",...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: General Practitioner Services (15 Feb 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Deputy very much for the question. It is a hugely important issue. I pay tribute to GPs and everyone working with them in general practice for the extraordinary work they have done through the pandemic and of late in stepping up around the Christmas period for the booster vaccines. They have been absolutely incredible. There are capacity challenges facing general practice....

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: General Practitioner Services (15 Feb 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: Yes, I agree. We have to continue with the graduate training posts but we have to go much further than that. I talked to a rural GP from the Deputy's neck of the woods in Waterford a while ago, and she estimated that her maternity leave, which she totally funded herself, will cost her approximately €60,000. This is a brilliant young GP in Waterford. She was considering splitting a...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: General Practitioner Services (15 Feb 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: As the Deputy quite rightly said, the ambition is very serious. The ambition is ultimately for free GP access to be the norm in our country, not just for children. That is where we have to go and we have to get there quickly. To do that, there has to be massive investment in general practice, including in the numbers, as we have discussed, and in the supports around them, such as eHealth,...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: General Practitioner Services (15 Feb 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. We are doing several things. We have to first recognise there is a serious issue. I know the groups met with the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health and the figures it gave them were very stark in respect of future shortages. Let us all agree this is a major issue that needs to be dealt with. What do we do? We need a very significant increase...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: General Practitioner Services (15 Feb 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: Yes, I do. I accept all those issues. Certainly, the conversations I have had with GPs and members of the Irish Medical Organisation reflect all of that. We need to be flexible. From the conversations I have had with GPs, many of the younger GPs, and some of the more urban-based ones, are very interested in being in primary care centres, multidisciplinary teams and a lot of the innovation...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: General Practitioner Services (15 Feb 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: I would be delighted to meet the ICGP. It is an excellent organisation. It is doing the training now, but there is an awful lot of innovation and constant thinking about the future of the profession. I agree with regard to the need for salaried GPs. I have no issue with that. I would like to see more of that. It is something of an anomaly in a public health service where the vast...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: General Practitioner Services (15 Feb 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: Yes, no problem. I will do so within the next few weeks.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Hospital Services (15 Feb 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. The National Orthopaedic Hospital Cappagh is Ireland's major centre for elective orthopaedic surgery and through the wonderful Cappagh Kids initiative, the national orthopaedic hospital provides additional capacity for the treatment of some of the more routine paediatric orthopaedic patients, including some routine scoliosis procedures. Using the...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Hospital Services (15 Feb 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Deputy. The solution for the children is to use all the hospitals. There is no one hospital. Not one of Cappagh, Crumlin and Temple Street can do this on its own. That is why I convened a meeting of all three hospitals last week. There is also work we can do with Blackrock Clinic. We had a meeting earlier today at which the Beacon was also referenced. The three main...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Hospital Services (15 Feb 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: The Deputy is right about the funding. There is crossover. The paediatric orthopaedic teams who work in Cappagh do a lot of work in Temple Street. There has been less crossover with Crumlin but the Crumlin team is now working with Cappagh as well. There is going to be a lot of interaction in that regard. In terms of funding, there is money going to CHI, be that to Crumlin or Temple...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Hospital Services (15 Feb 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: I propose to take Questions Nos. 65, 78, 156 and 179 together. I thank Deputy Gould for the question. Similar questions were tabled by Deputies Colm Burke, Stanton and Cullinane. This reply addresses all of those questions. The development of new elective care capacity is a big commitment of the programme for Government. Last December, I brought a memo to Government and secured...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Hospital Services (15 Feb 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank both Deputies. The first thing to state very clearly is this is being prioritised and moved forward. I brought a memo to Government recently. We got agreement on the elective hospitals, including for Cork. One of the asks, and this is why I said it earlier, was that the proposal that came to me from the group that reviewed this had a very material change to it. As I said, the...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Hospital Services (15 Feb 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Deputies for their contributions. Two very important issues were raised, one of which is on the elective centre. It will be based in Cork, but remember, it is a regional hub. It will make a huge difference in terms of people being able to access care quickly, which ultimately is the mission in universal healthcare. That is what we are going to do. It will make a big...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Hospital Procedures (15 Feb 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank Deputy Niamh Smyth for raising the issue. While I cannot discuss an individual case here, the situation obviously does not sound at all satisfactory for the Deputy’s constituent. Something does need to be done about that. The broad question, if I am correct, is around the general delays in Beaumont Hospital.