Results 29,301-29,320 of 49,836 for speaker:Stephen Donnelly

Written Answers — Department of Health: Health Services (25 May 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: While I make every effort to meet with as many stakeholders as possible, it is not always possible to commit to every meeting request. However, it is a normal and productive practice for interest groups to engage formally through my office in respect of any representations they wish to make. As this question also relates to service matters, I have asked the Health Service Executive to...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Health Services Staff (25 May 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: Under section 39 of the Health Act 2004, the HSE provides financial assistance to organisations to provide services similar or supplementary to a service that the HSE may provide.  The Department of Health acknowledges the important role that Section 39 organisations and staff play in our health sector.  They have a key role in providing services to people with disabilities and...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Health Services Staff (25 May 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: HSE officials advise that payment of the pandemic recognition payment to eligible HSE and Section 38 staff is currently in progress, with some cohorts having received the payment and the remainder being processed through local payroll.  Regarding eligible employees of other organisations covered by the Government decision, my Department shall shortly arrange publication of...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Home Care Packages (25 May 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: As this is a service matter I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond directly to the Deputy as soon as possible.

Written Answers — Department of Health: Hospital Overcrowding (25 May 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: As this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to the deputy directly, as soon as possible.

Written Answers — Department of Health: Health Services (25 May 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: As this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Emergency Departments (26 May 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: It is too long and completely unacceptable. I have personally, as no doubt the Deputy has, seen the distress in overcrowded emergency departments - distress to patients, their families and our healthcare professionals across the country. I have visited some of the busiest sites including Limerick and Galway. Later today I will be in the Mercy Hospital in Cork and tomorrow I will be in Cork...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Emergency Departments (26 May 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: I fully agree that the operation in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda is fantastic. I think it has five separate pathways when patients come in, including the use of advanced nurse practitioners who are doing a phenomenal job in being able to see, treat and discharge about 70% to 75% of the patients coming into that hospital. The challenge the Deputy posed is exactly the challenge I...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Emergency Departments (26 May 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: I agree with all of that. In Bray on Friday, I met the new chronic disease management team, the new older persons team and the new community healthcare network, including a pilot on mental health led by an advanced nurse practitioner in mental health. The level of prevention that is going on, including emergency presentation, is very impressive and fully in line with the Sláintecare...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Departmental Reviews (26 May 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Deputy for raising the matter. I am very sympathetic to the patients and their families over what has happened. I met the patient groups involved in late 2020 and supported their call for a review into sodium valproate. I committed to making it happen. Since then, senior officials in my Department have been engaging closely with the patient groups and other stakeholders over...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Departmental Reviews (26 May 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: The inquiry will be established as soon as we get the terms of reference finalised. It is important that the terms of reference, first and foremost, make sense for the patients, families and groups. We must also ensure all the stakeholders can work with those terms of reference. We are reviewing the terms of reference at the moment. I cannot give an exact date but I will revert to the...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Departmental Reviews (26 May 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Deputy. It is very serious if that is the case. It is not the advice I have from the Department or the HSE. The advice I have is that the services and equipment are being provided. There is a mechanism whereby if a CHO does not have a budget specifically for this group of patients, it can put a business case together centrally. The HSE has not received any business cases and...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Departmental Reviews (26 May 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: Let us take a look. I will revert to the Deputy with a note.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Health Services Staff (26 May 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: The Government, as provided for in the programme for Government, is committed to introducing the new public-only consultant contract. I want to do so in a timely manner. A new consultant contract, as I know the Deputy will agree, is one of the important steps towards universal, single-tier healthcare, with public hospitals exclusively used for the treatment of public patients. That is the...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Health Services Staff (26 May 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: As it happens, I met Dr. Humphries and her associate on Monday or Tuesday. As the Deputy is aware, they have done five years' work on this. They have focused their work specifically on Australia but I fully agree that the matters are intrinsically linked. A root-and-branch reform of the non-consultant hospital doctor, NCHD, pathway is needed. The current pathway for NCHDs is not...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Health Services Staff (26 May 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: I agree with everything the Deputy said other than her point about a sense of urgency. If I am not conveying a sense of urgency here, I can assure her that the groups involved, including the Department, are very aware that there is a sense of urgency. We are moving on this as a priority and we are doing two things at the same time. We are looking at the NCHD contract, at the six to ten...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Industrial Relations (26 May 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: A number of Deputies have tabled questions on-----

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Industrial Relations (26 May 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: Is it dealt with separately?

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Industrial Relations (26 May 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: Thank you. I thank Deputy Duncan Smith for raising this issue. We had a good debate on this yesterday. I want to acknowledge the incredibly valuable role that medical scientists play in our healthcare system but on top of that, the fact that they, along with their healthcare colleagues across the system, have put in even longer hours and tougher shifts during the pandemic. I have met a...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Industrial Relations (26 May 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: That makes an awful lot of sense, not just for medical scientists but right across the board. Probably the single biggest challenge we have in terms of the ongoing modernisation of the public health service is recruitment. If we are going to have a challenge, it is the right one to have. The funding has been allocated and the posts have been sanctioned but we are trying to recruit a huge...