Results 42,141-42,160 of 49,836 for speaker:Stephen Donnelly

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Medicinal Products (18 Jan 2024)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Deputy very much. I agree with him. I do not accept that either. We are a nation whose population deserves rapid access to these medicines. We have to strike a balance. We hear advocacy from the pharmaceutical industry regularly citing lengths of time. It has a particular view. Obviously, it wants Ireland to spend as much money as quickly as possible on its products. When...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Medicinal Products (18 Jan 2024)

Stephen Donnelly: I will ask the Department to revert to the Deputy with a detailed note on the full process involved in the health technology assessments because there are various parts to them. What I can say is that for this coming year there are going to be some important improvements. One is that we are going to have a medicines tracker for the first time. This is something that Rare Diseases Ireland,...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Health Services (18 Jan 2024)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Deputy very much. I put women's healthcare services front and centre in this Government in terms of investment and expansion. I believe we have to make up for many decades of lack of investment. The House broadly agrees that thanks to the work of our healthcare workers there has been important progress over the past three years. We will launch a new women's health action plan...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Health Services (18 Jan 2024)

Stephen Donnelly: I cannot comment on the individual case. I am not familiar with it. However, as the Deputy referenced, there was an incident in June 2022 when the HSE notified my Department of a maternal death in the mid-west following a home birth. At that time those services were then stopped. A review is being commissioned, which needs to happen quickly. I discussed this with a group of very...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Health Services (18 Jan 2024)

Stephen Donnelly: We have discussed the issue of homebirth and we need an answer to this that works for women in terms of choice and safety. While that is being progressed, significant improvements are happening across maternity care. Through the strategy we have hired an additional 465 staff who were very badly needed and who are making a big difference. I have been in many of the maternity units and I...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Emergency Departments (18 Jan 2024)

Stephen Donnelly: Not for a moment am I going to downplay the real pressures in too many of our hospitals for too many of our patients in accident and emergency departments. However, it is really important that as an Oireachtas we acknowledge the progress our healthcare workers are making. I can tell the Deputy, and I know he will have seen this himself from talking to them, they are working so hard to bring...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Emergency Departments (18 Jan 2024)

Stephen Donnelly: There are two things I would like to say on this. I am fully in agreement with the Deputy on the cases in which people do not get the care they need. That can lead to catastrophic outcomes. A recent example is the report into the tragic death of Aoife Johnston in Limerick. Unfortunately, these things do happen. Sometimes they may be preventable and sometimes they may not but we have to...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Emergency Departments (18 Jan 2024)

Stephen Donnelly: Let us talk about what is actually happening here. In the lifetime of this Government, more than 1,100 beds, approximately 1,000 consultants and 25,000 healthcare professionals have been added to our health service. We are by no means where we want to be as regards everyone getting the right care at the right time but it is absolutely and undeniably the case that this Government has...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Hospital Services (18 Jan 2024)

Stephen Donnelly: The Government is committed to developing and improving services in University Hospital Limerick and overall Health services in this region. This is evidenced by the substantial and sustained investment in infrastructure and staff in recent years. There has been major capital investment in this hospital.In 2021, a new 60-bed modular ward block opened.Two separate rapid-build projects...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Health Strategies (18 Jan 2024)

Stephen Donnelly: The Government is extremely conscious of the distress overcrowded Emergency Departments cause and the very challenging working conditions in hospitals throughout the country. This winter is the first winter we are using an all-year approach to urgent and emergency care, since the switch last year from annual winter plans recognising that the required investment, changes and supports go beyond...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Hospital Facilities (18 Jan 2024)

Stephen Donnelly: As the Deputy will be aware, the HSE has proposed a process of planned service changes at Our Lady's Hospital Navan and has advised that these changes are necessary to support safe service delivery on a sustained basis and are driven first and foremost by patient safety considerations. I want to assure the Deputy that no decision regarding the HSE’s proposal for the transition of...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Hospital Overcrowding (18 Jan 2024)

Stephen Donnelly: The Government is extremely conscious of the distress overcrowded Emergency Departments cause and the very challenging working conditions in hospitals throughout the country. This winter is the first winter we are using an all-year approach to urgent and emergency care, since the switch last year from annual winter plans recognising that the required investment, changes and supports go beyond...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Healthcare Infrastructure Provision (18 Jan 2024)

Stephen Donnelly: The National Elective Ambulatory Care Strategy was agreed by Government in 2021. Significant additional capacity to better enable the separation of scheduled and unscheduled care will be provided through a national network of dedicated, standalone Elective Hospitals. The Preliminary Business Case, approved by Government in December 2022, identified St Stephen’s Hospital as the...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Health Services Staff (18 Jan 2024)

Stephen Donnelly: I am pleased to inform the Deputy that, as part of Budget 2024, I secured funding for an additional 2,268 posts in the HSE. This brings the agreed whole time equivalent (WTE) total for HSE for 2024 to 146,600 posts. The safe staffing framework implementation will be included in the HSE National Service Plan for 2024 using an agency posts conversion approach, resulting in an additional 400...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Economic and Social Research Institute (18 Jan 2024)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank Deputy Cullinane for his question on the ESRI Report ‘The National Development Plan in 2023: Priorities and Capacity’. I welcome its publication. My Department has only just received the report. My officials and I will be giving careful consideration to its findings in preparation for engaging with the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform in the...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Primary Care Centres (18 Jan 2024)

Stephen Donnelly: I wish to thank Deputy for raising the issue of Primary Care Centre developments across Cork. Regarding Blarney Primary Care Centre, the HSE advised that it had been engaging with a developer for this proposed PCC and that Cork County Council had granted planning permission for same. However, that planning decision was appealed to An Bord Pleanála, who upheld the planning decision....

Written Answers — Department of Health: Primary Care Centres (18 Jan 2024)

Stephen Donnelly: I wish to thank the Deputy for allowing me to update the house on this matter, as I know that the Deputy has raised this matter a number of times with my Department in the past. Ballyhaunis Primary Care Centre (PCC) is to be developed through the Operational Lease mechanism, whereby the HSE enters into agreement with a developer to build a PCC and the HSE then leases the building for a...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Cannabis for Medicinal Use (18 Jan 2024)

Stephen Donnelly: In it’s 2017 publication “Cannabis for Medical Use – A Scientific Review” the Health Products Regulatory Authority found that at that timeThere was an absence of scientific data demonstrating the effectiveness (efficacy) of cannabis products. The safety of cannabis as a medical treatment is not well characterised.There was insufficient information on its safety...

Written Answers — Department of Health: National Treatment Purchase Fund (18 Jan 2024)

Stephen Donnelly: I recognise that waiting lists have been historically high, a situation that worsened considerably with the Covid-19 pandemic. That's why I sought and secured significant funding for a multi-annual approach to reducing waiting lists and more importantly waiting times. The core target of achieving a 10% reduction in the number of patients breaching the Sláintecare waiting times was...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Medicinal Products (18 Jan 2024)

Stephen Donnelly: In 2023, a new record of almost €3 billion was spent on medicines by the State. This represents nearly €1 in every €8 of public funding being spent on health. This unprecedented level of investment in our health services supports access for patients to the latest range of medicines. Over the last 3 years the State has invested €98 million in new medicines to...