Results 2,821-2,840 of 11,255 for speaker:Colm Burke

Seanad: Order of Business (25 Sep 2018)

Colm Burke: I agree with my colleague, Senator Kieran O'Donnell, on the need for a debate on housing. We need to have a genuine debate on the way forward. There are many challenges for people who are on the housing lists in local authorities. There are also challenges for people who are caught between not qualifying for the local authority housing list and being unable to buy. We need to seriously...

Seanad: Scoping Inquiry into CervicalCheck Screening Programme: Statements (25 Sep 2018)

Colm Burke: Yes, I will share two minutes with Senator Kieran O'Donnell.

Seanad: Scoping Inquiry into CervicalCheck Screening Programme: Statements (25 Sep 2018)

Colm Burke: I welcome and thank the Minister for making his presentation on this report. It is important to acknowledge that what occurred was wrong in a sense of the non-disclosure to women when the results of this audit were published. It was a retrospective audit on people who were in a programme of treatment. This information was important to them and should have been disclosed to them when it...

Seanad: Scoping Inquiry into CervicalCheck Screening Programme: Statements (25 Sep 2018)

Colm Burke: At 10.30 a.m. tomorrow.

Seanad: Order of Business (26 Sep 2018)

Colm Burke: There is quite a large amount of vacant property. We must take action to bring these properties into use and if necessary use the taxation system in the upcoming budget, and make it difficult for people to leave property vacant. I am a little concerned that while it complains night and day about the issue of housing, Sinn Féin proposed to one local authority in Cork that property tax...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Business of Joint Committee
General Scheme of the Patient Safety Bill 2018: Department of Health (26 Sep 2018)

Colm Burke: I thank our guests for their presentation. The first issue I wish to raise is open disclosure and the Medical Council. Where will practitioners stand with regard to when a complaint is filed with the Medical Council and the information given in that open disclosure? It does not appear to be mentioned in the legislation. What is the clinician's situation where that occurs? What...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Business of Joint Committee
General Scheme of the Patient Safety Bill 2018: Department of Health (26 Sep 2018)

Colm Burke: That is the exact question to which I wished to return. There is a section within the Scally report which deals with the issue of governance. While the medical practitioners on the front line are being held accountable, no one who was involved in management and governance is being held accountable on CervicalCheck. That is one issue I want to raise. I welcome this legislation but in the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Business of Joint Committee
General Scheme of the Patient Safety Bill 2018: Department of Health (26 Sep 2018)

Colm Burke: Coming back to the Medical Council, I presume head 15 will include the issue about the evidence not being used in a Medical Council hearing.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Business of Joint Committee
General Scheme of the Patient Safety Bill 2018: Department of Health (26 Sep 2018)

Colm Burke: There was a particular case I came across where 18 months after a person had died in hospital, an inquest was still awaited. In fairness, the family was kept totally in the dark. Everyone was waiting for the autopsy report. It caused its own problems.

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Coroners Service (3 Oct 2018)

Colm Burke: I thank the Minister, Deputy Flanagan, for taking time out of his busy schedule to be here. In this country at the moment, when a human remains or a body is not identified there is no central database for the information that is gathered. I understand that the information is kept within each of the coroners' areas. Dr. René Gapert, who is an expert in this area, has suggested that a...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Coroners Service (3 Oct 2018)

Colm Burke: I understand that across the various coroners' areas there are approximately 200 cases in which the bodies or partial remains of individuals have not been identified. That figure is taken from a survey which added them all up. There is no central relationship that allows such discoveries to be cross-checked with the cases of people who have been reported missing. Problems can arise when...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Sláintecare Implementation Strategy: Discussion (3 Oct 2018)

Colm Burke: I apologise for not being here for part of the meeting. I was dealing with the Minister for Justice and Equality on a Commencement matter in the Seanad. I would like to ask the Minister about Project Ireland 2040 and the Sláintecare report. It has been identified that additional hospitals are needed in certain locations, including Cork. I understand that a group of people from...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Sláintecare Implementation Strategy: Discussion (3 Oct 2018)

Colm Burke: I thank the witnesses for their presentations. I apologise for being late but I had an earlier commitment. On efficiencies in the HSE and health service, the witnesses referred to medication and access to GPs. To take the simple example of the cost of drugs and pharmaceuticals, people have access to drugs and pharmaceuticals but do not necessarily use them. On generic drugs, the changes...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Sláintecare Implementation Strategy: Discussion (3 Oct 2018)

Colm Burke: Will Dr. Johnston clarify the point about pushing?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Sláintecare Implementation Strategy: Discussion (3 Oct 2018)

Colm Burke: With regard to the drug charges, is there not a monthly cut-off point beyond which people do not pay for their drugs? Is that a cut-off of €134?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Sláintecare Implementation Strategy: Discussion (3 Oct 2018)

Colm Burke: Has there been an increase?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Sláintecare Implementation Strategy: Discussion (3 Oct 2018)

Colm Burke: It has since dropped.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Sláintecare Implementation Strategy: Discussion (3 Oct 2018)

Colm Burke: I am not suggesting there should be increased costs. I am asking how do we create an efficient service, one that is delivered and, at the same time, make sure there will not be unnecessary use of it? That issue came home with the introduction of free GP care for those under the age of six years. If we continue to increase access to free GP care, we will also have to meet that challenge....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Sláintecare Implementation Strategy: Discussion (3 Oct 2018)

Colm Burke: I want to touch on community care services. I agree fully with what has been said, but I spoke to a GP in a community care centre where a physiotherapist is now employed by the HSE. It was taking anything up to six weeks for the GP to get an appointment for a patient with the physiotherapist. He could telephone a physiotherapist and get a private appointment within 24 hours. I agree fully...

Seanad: Order of Business (9 Oct 2018)

Colm Burke: I welcome the budget announcements today. It is a big change from where we were seven years ago where over €8 billion was taken out of the budget overnight. Now we are in a very good position where we have a balanced budget and can give priority to a number of areas, in particular to health and housing. An additional €1 billion was added to the budget this year. In real...