Results 38,681-38,700 of 49,836 for speaker:Stephen Donnelly

Written Answers — Department of Health: Hospital Waiting Lists (21 Jun 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: The Health Service Executive (HSE) advises that a pilot project was commenced in 2016 by the HSE Acute Hospitals Division to progress the collection of national radiology waiting list data. The project has been supported by the Radiology Clinical Care Programme and has involved key stakeholders across the system including the National Integrated Medical Imaging System (NIMIS) Team, Hospital...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (22 Jun 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: Hear, hear.

Select Committee on Health: Human Tissue (Transplantation, Post-Mortem, Anatomical Examination and Public Display) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (21 Jun 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Chair and sincerely apologise to him and all members for the delay. I had a different time that I was asked to be here. That is entirely on me, so I sincerely apologise to the Chair and colleagues. I thank the committee for the opportunity to present the Human Tissue (Transplantation, Post-Mortem, Anatomical Examination and Public Display) Bill 2022 on Committee Stage. This...

Select Committee on Health: Human Tissue (Transplantation, Post-Mortem, Anatomical Examination and Public Display) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (21 Jun 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: The Chair will correct me if I am wrong but in terms of groupings, I have amendment Nos. 1 to 3, inclusive, 6, 12, 13, 15, 24, 30, 39, 40, 41, 48 and 67. I will speak to them broadly now if that is okay. I move amendment No. 1: In page 9, between lines 5 and 6, to insert the following: “ “coroner” has the same meaning as it has in section 2(1) of the Act of...

Select Committee on Health: Human Tissue (Transplantation, Post-Mortem, Anatomical Examination and Public Display) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (21 Jun 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: Amendment No. 2 amends the definition of "nurse" to include reference to the relevant section to the Nurses and Midwives Act 2011 to assist with interpretation. Amendment No. 3 amends the definition of "pathologist" to ensure it captures trained and qualified pathologists who may not be registered in the specialist division of the register of the medical practitioners under the speciality...

Select Committee on Health: Human Tissue (Transplantation, Post-Mortem, Anatomical Examination and Public Display) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (21 Jun 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: I am fully supportive of that. My officials are meeting the Irish Kidney Association next week to go through all of their amendments in detail. My position is that we should take on the ones we can. There will inevitably be some where there may be technical reasons we cannot, or there may be a difference of view. Some of this is a judgment call. If we take the example of opt- in versus...

Select Committee on Health: Human Tissue (Transplantation, Post-Mortem, Anatomical Examination and Public Display) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (21 Jun 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Deputy. I am satisfied with the amendments we have before us today and with the proposed amendments on Report Stage. There has been much work in the background, as he will be aware, between my Department and the Department of Justice. We have coronial post mortems and hospital or non-coronial post mortems. We wanted to make sure that it was all being governed in a similar way....

Select Committee on Health: Human Tissue (Transplantation, Post-Mortem, Anatomical Examination and Public Display) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (21 Jun 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Deputy. We are planning a comprehensive public awareness campaign for when the Bill is commenced or shortly before it, whatever the appropriate timing is, so that people know this is a fundamental change in our society with regard to all our consent. We are moving from an opt-in to an opt-out system. From a few perspectives, we have an obligation to let people know that is what...

Select Committee on Health: Human Tissue (Transplantation, Post-Mortem, Anatomical Examination and Public Display) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (21 Jun 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: Yes.

Select Committee on Health: Human Tissue (Transplantation, Post-Mortem, Anatomical Examination and Public Display) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (21 Jun 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: It will take that on.

Select Committee on Health: Human Tissue (Transplantation, Post-Mortem, Anatomical Examination and Public Display) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (21 Jun 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: I would not rule anything out in this session. I want to engage with the Irish Kidney Association. Typically, we do not need to do that. Typically, the HSE is pretty good at public awareness campaigns. Let us consider all that went on with the Covid vaccines. That is not done on a statutory basis. There are a few layers to this. The HSE will roll out the programme. The Department...

Select Committee on Health: Human Tissue (Transplantation, Post-Mortem, Anatomical Examination and Public Display) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (21 Jun 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: It is not typically something that we would put in legislation such as this. It is always up to any committee to ask the Minister to come in to get an update. We sometimes stitch progress reports into the legislation so the Minister reports to the Oireachtas on progress within three years, for example. I am more than open to those kinds of things. I think they are generally quite positive.

Select Committee on Health: Human Tissue (Transplantation, Post-Mortem, Anatomical Examination and Public Display) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (21 Jun 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: The protections are fully enshrined in legislation. The GDPR legislation is the main Act. This will all be compliant with GDPR. As the Deputy rightly refers to, as we begin to improve the HSE's digital and e-health capabilities, the where and who may change over time, but, critically, it will all be in compliance with GDPR protections.

Select Committee on Health: Human Tissue (Transplantation, Post-Mortem, Anatomical Examination and Public Display) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (21 Jun 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: Not at this point, but possibly in the future.

Select Committee on Health: Human Tissue (Transplantation, Post-Mortem, Anatomical Examination and Public Display) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (21 Jun 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: Yes, I hope we can, absolutely. There is broad support for this. It is not a political Bill. It is just a good, proper healthcare thing to do. We will try to do this as much as we can.

Select Committee on Health: Human Tissue (Transplantation, Post-Mortem, Anatomical Examination and Public Display) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (21 Jun 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: Yes, I am very open to them. Let us let the officials and the Irish Kidney Association meet up and tease the amendments out and see where they all get to.

Select Committee on Health: Human Tissue (Transplantation, Post-Mortem, Anatomical Examination and Public Display) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (21 Jun 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Deputy. There are a few parts to his question. One is around the resources. Certainly within the HSE we need to ensure there are sufficient staff numbers available for the post-mortems themselves and then to engage with families. The staffing of coronial post-mortems is a matter for the Department of Justice but we are aligning the regulations to a great extent. In terms of...

Select Committee on Health: Human Tissue (Transplantation, Post-Mortem, Anatomical Examination and Public Display) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (21 Jun 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: On the Deputy's first question around oversight, I will ask the officials to come back to him with a detailed technical note.

Select Committee on Health: Human Tissue (Transplantation, Post-Mortem, Anatomical Examination and Public Display) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (21 Jun 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: Essentially, there are several layers to it. One is the Act itself, which sets out a lot of the requirements in terms of what must be conveyed and what consent covers. There is a layer of regulations on top of that. Then there are the hospital guidelines, hospital by hospital, and the appropriate oversight mechanisms there. For example, one question is, if you are a family member being...