Results 41,701-41,720 of 49,836 for speaker:Stephen Donnelly
- Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (29 Nov 2023) Stephen Donnelly: Any line Minister is involved at all times, so the team here and I would be talking on a daily and hourly basis over and over anyway.
- Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (29 Nov 2023) Stephen Donnelly: Yes. I and the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, and the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, attended several meetings at a political level-----
- Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (29 Nov 2023) Stephen Donnelly: -----but there are many many meetings between officials before that.
- Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (29 Nov 2023) Stephen Donnelly: I think it is fair to say, and the officials may have a view in this regard as well, that the public record, and the documents Deputy Cullinane was referring to, show there was clearly a different view on ELS and on what is recurrent from this year, as well as, obviously, new development. Every Minister will always look for as much new development funding as he or she can get. The Deputy...
- Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (29 Nov 2023) Stephen Donnelly: Well, I do not want to talk about individual officials, right, and most of these meetings were at official level.
- Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (29 Nov 2023) Stephen Donnelly: As a matter of fact, though, we can state that the agreed budget does not reflect the level of demand and inflation that I was advised that we might be seeing.
- Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (29 Nov 2023) Stephen Donnelly: It is more difficult than I think we would all like it to be. Let us take this year as an example. I am here looking at another €1 billion in cash, or let us say €1.5 billion. Last year, in good faith, assumptions were made around the increase in patient demand and the increase in costs. It is fair to say that this year both these are way ahead of what we thought they would be.
- Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (29 Nov 2023) Stephen Donnelly: Yes, though it does make the task of reducing the waiting lists more difficult, obviously.
- Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (29 Nov 2023) Stephen Donnelly: Yes.
- Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (29 Nov 2023) Stephen Donnelly: Yes. This is a good example.
- Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (29 Nov 2023) Stephen Donnelly: I think this is a good example. On the waiting list action plan we will report at the end of the year, the activity, the number of patients being taken off the waiting lists, is well ahead of target. To comment on the point made by the Deputy, this costs more money. The HSE has, therefore, treated more patients than it is funded to treat. This is the case in two areas in hospitals. One...
- Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (29 Nov 2023) Stephen Donnelly: At this point, it is hard to say. My hope is that inflation will fall back down. We are, for example, hearing that energy prices may decline. My hope, therefore, is that what we have seen in Ireland and other countries around Europe, this big surge we saw this year that was not anticipated, will die down. I hope it was, in fact, a post-Covid surge that will now go back down and we will...
- Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (29 Nov 2023) Stephen Donnelly: I am sorry to cut across the Deputy, but I want to make one important point. I am absolutely of the view that we will not be curtailing patient services.
- Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (29 Nov 2023) Stephen Donnelly: No, I-----
- Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (29 Nov 2023) Stephen Donnelly: If I could just respond to that point-----
- Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (29 Nov 2023) Stephen Donnelly: It would not be helpful to get into the detail of it, but there is a conversation going on at political level for exactly the reasons the Deputy has articulated.
- Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (29 Nov 2023) Stephen Donnelly: Following the Chair’s direction, I might ask one of the officials to provide that information, if we have it.
- Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (29 Nov 2023) Stephen Donnelly: The Deputy is exactly on the money. At a simple level, approximately one third of the overrun is due to demographics and an increase in patient demand. A second part of the overrun is price inflation. For example, medical and surgical supply prices increased significantly this year. A third part is a level of spending that arguably should not be happening. We are spending too much on...
- Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (29 Nov 2023) Stephen Donnelly: I have a table with me, which I will look to if the Deputy does not mind. Here are some of the inflationary pressures: medical and surgical supplies at approximately 23% this year versus last year; drugs and medicine at 18%; laboratory costs at 16%; and cleaning and washing at approximately 14%. We believe these numbers will decrease next year. A 23% year-on-year price growth was not...
- Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (29 Nov 2023) Stephen Donnelly: I agree that is it important that new medicines and therapies be available to patients. There was simply no new development funding this year. For the past few years, there has been significant new development funding for new medicines. There has also been a much better working relationship between the State and the pharmaceutical industry in recent years. While there is no new...