Results 37,201-37,220 of 49,836 for speaker:Stephen Donnelly

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

Stephen Donnelly: I acknowledge the Deputy's ongoing advocacy for significant investment in Ennis hospital. The very clear clinical advice that I have, and that my predecessors had, would not point towards reopening an ED in Ennis. Regardless of my view, the Deputy's view or anyone's view, the very clear clinical advice is that the consolidation of emergency care to the bigger hospitals was important in...

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

Stephen Donnelly: Regarding University Hospital Limerick, there are many good people doing their best with historically insufficient capacity in terms of beds, theatres and staffing. We are working on that. I have been clear with the hospital that changes are needed in how patients are cared for there. I am not sure the Deputy was present for it, but I cited the example of University Hospital Waterford,...

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

Stephen Donnelly: I fully agree with that. They are working hard and have immense challenges. There has been a gap in terms of capacity. The Government, the HSE and my Department are working very hard to increase investment significantly while also insisting that the patient flow within the hospital be improved. That is the reality. I sent in a specialist team to examine the matter. The hospital has made...

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

Stephen Donnelly: We will take a look at it. I thank Deputy Crowe.

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

Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Senator. I will get him the exact figures. Much progress is being made. When Covid arrived, we had 258 critical care beds. This is below the international levels that we would expect Ireland to be at. We all saw the deficit exposed by Covid. We should acknowledge the quite extraordinary response by our critical care teams across the country. I do not want to take up the...

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

Stephen Donnelly: There will be five centres of excellence where an awful lot more critical care capacity is provided.

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

Stephen Donnelly: We will have 352 by the end of this year. We will go on from that. What total are we going for?

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

Stephen Donnelly: Some 446.

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

Stephen Donnelly: We will have gone from 258 up to 446. We are now getting the kind of critical care capacity that the country really needs.

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

Stephen Donnelly: I will ask Mr. Tierney to speak on Galway specifically. I asked a few things. That included going to five areas very quickly. They would ideally not need environmental impact assessments. We would use rapid builds. The NHS, for example, is dropping these in all over the UK. We are looking at a similar approach. There are different timescales for the five regions, depending on local...

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

Stephen Donnelly: There are no overnight beds for day care.

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

Stephen Donnelly: Yes.

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

Stephen Donnelly: I will but I would just like to comment on this. I met some of those workers when I was in Galway and I gave a very clear commitment that they were eligible so long as they were in hospital during those dates. I did not realise that, Senator. It is frustrating to hear because I met them and told them and the hospital very clearly that they were eligible and that they needed to be paid like...

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

Stephen Donnelly: Okay.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (27 Apr 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: He is answering.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (27 Apr 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: Yes.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (27 Apr 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: Well said.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (27 Apr 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: As the Deputy is aware, we are not in a position where we can say that management says its staff needs a pay rise therefore we simply take that out of the national pay agreements and give them the pay rise. The Deputy's party is signed up to it as is Government and these kind of issues are public sector pay issues, which need to form part of broader discussions in terms of public sector pay....

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (27 Apr 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: I take the point made by the Deputy. We must treat the two issues in parallel. Regardless of the efforts made, or the success or failure in any specific nursing home, we must still ensure that State funding is going to these homes to protect the residents. In parallel to this, we must take the patient safety and regulatory issues very seriously. To that effect, just last night, the...

Final Report of the Joint Committee on International Surrogacy: Motion [Private Members] (27 Apr 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: There are two more Wicklow Deputies to speak. I warmly welcome the opportunity to discuss the upcoming surrogacy legislation following the work of the Special Oireachtas Joint Committee on International Surrogacy. I acknowledge the enormous efforts over many years of many advocates and the surrogacy groups, some of whom are with us today in the Visitors Gallery. They are all very welcome....