Results 37,181-37,200 of 49,836 for speaker:Stephen Donnelly

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Challenges in Hospitals: Minister for Health (26 Apr 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Deputy. Perhaps Mr. McCallion has the occupancy rates.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Challenges in Hospitals: Minister for Health (26 Apr 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: An Irish Government Economic and Evaluation Service, IGEES, report on bed occupancy within public hospitals was published in recent months. We will forward that report to the Deputy and the other committee members.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Challenges in Hospitals: Minister for Health (26 Apr 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: I will respond. I am open to correction but I think the Sláintecare target was 80%. I am speaking from memory. That was looked at across Europe and 80% was seen as a decent level. I see here that the OECD level is about 85%. We are regularly in the high 90s. The current situation is not sustainable. Regarding the targets set out, there was the 2018 capacity review, which the Deputy...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Challenges in Hospitals: Minister for Health (26 Apr 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: That is the seminal question. At its most basic level we can stop it by doing two things, namely, expanding the permanent capacity in our public health workforce at a record level and reforming our public health service in line with universal healthcare and the reforms called for in Sláintecare. That means a massive investment in community-based care and the National Ambulance Service...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Challenges in Hospitals: Minister for Health (26 Apr 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: Probably for the first time ever, we can now see universal healthcare as a reality in our country. There are three simple tests here. For me, one of the most important unfinished projects of our Republic, which must be the cornerstone of any decent society, is universal healthcare. There are three tests. The first is whether it is affordable for patients. The Deputy will be aware that we...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Challenges in Hospitals: Minister for Health (26 Apr 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Deputy for the question, and I fully agree. Probably the single biggest opportunity in respect of trolleys is more discharge. The biggest solution lies outside of the hospital. The Deputy will be aware that there has been a very significant increase - an increase of millions - in the number of home care hours being provided.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Challenges in Hospitals: Minister for Health (26 Apr 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: I will answer the question about the surgical hub. I will ask Mr. Tierney to give the Deputy a quick update on the elective hospital for Cork, if that is helpful, and I will ask Mr. McCallion to give a quick update on specific discharge from CUH. I think Mr. McCallion is working on some of the issues the Deputy has just raised. For my part, I am of the view that the surgical hubs should...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Challenges in Hospitals: Minister for Health (26 Apr 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: It is a fair question. It is hard to say. I certainly believe the current ED problems are eminently solvable without adding a level three hospital there. The solutions are there. I do not think anyone would ever rule out new hospitals but I do not think-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Challenges in Hospitals: Minister for Health (26 Apr 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: I will ask Mr. McCallion or Dr. Henry for their views on that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Challenges in Hospitals: Minister for Health (26 Apr 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Deputy for the question. It was a combination of things. In some of the emergency department wards there were long corridors where patients were on trolleys, where they are not meant to be. These are meant to be corridors for people to walk or transit through. I have seen cases, and the HIQA reports point this out regularly, where patients are being denied the dignity they...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Challenges in Hospitals: Minister for Health (26 Apr 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: I am working on expediting as much of this as possible. As I said, we are putting a package of infrastructure investment in place for CUH. It is the biggest hospital in the country. It needs a level of investment it has not had in a significant time. The Deputy will be aware that Mercy University Hospital has had some recent invest and is doing well with it. I fully acknowledge the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Challenges in Hospitals: Minister for Health (26 Apr 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: We have some good news on that. We are in the final phases of discussions between the HSE and providers to do a few important things, which are: to ensure that everyone is paid at least the living wage; that they are paid for the time they are travelling between different homes; and that their travel expenses are covered. That should make a big difference. The Deputy will be aware that an...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Challenges in Hospitals: Minister for Health (26 Apr 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: I will ask Mr. McCallion to provide some of the operational details. First, however, it is completely unacceptable, regardless of the context, for any of our healthcare workers to be assaulted or abused. We must have a zero-tolerance approach. We all know patients and their families can end up in distressing situations. I fully acknowledge that, but it is never acceptable for our...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Challenges in Hospitals: Minister for Health (26 Apr 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: I acknowledge that in some parts of the country, the GP out-of-hours services are struggling to provide the kind of response times people want. It is also important to say that in other parts of the country, an excellent service is being provided. I met some of the GP out-of-hours providers at the Irish Medical Organisation, IMO, conference the weekend before last. They asked me to convene...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Challenges in Hospitals: Minister for Health (26 Apr 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: It is going really well. I opened three primary care centres last Friday. We now have 167 primary care centres around the country. There are a lot more in construction, with more to be opened. There are 13 centres in construction, with another five in advanced planning and 29 in early planning. There are many primary care centres. As the Deputy stated and as colleagues will be aware,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Challenges in Hospitals: Minister for Health (26 Apr 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: There is a lot of anecdotal evidence. We have some reviews. For example, the Irish College of General Practitioners has done a review of GP access to diagnostics which shows that a very high number of those people would have ended up in accident and emergency departments instead of ending up back with their GPs. Anecdotally, I can tell the Deputy that patients are saying that they no...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Challenges in Hospitals: Minister for Health (26 Apr 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: I acknowledge and appreciate the Deputy's adequate warning. Let us find a resolution to this before whatever dire events the Deputy alludes to might unfold. Can I suggest this? The Deputy has advocated for this for some time. The Deputy and I have discussed the matter previously. I acknowledge that the system can probably be improved. A lot of the time, the patients and the people...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Challenges in Hospitals: Minister for Health (26 Apr 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: I ask the Cathaoirleach to allow me time to respond on this important issue of Naas General Hospital. It is interesting that the Deputy has asked the question today. Earlier this week I had discussions with several Deputies who raised concerns in respect of Naas. In essence, they are saying there is a concern locally that there is some secret plan to downgrade the hospital. That is the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Challenges in Hospitals: Minister for Health (26 Apr 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: That decision was made long before my time but I can provide my view, for what little that might be worth. My sense is that the sequencing could have been done differently. In other words, the changes were made and additional capacity was promised. My view is that the additional capacity should be put in place first. The Deputy will be aware that I intervened in Navan and Drogheda and...