Results 45,681-45,700 of 49,836 for speaker:Stephen Donnelly
- Committee on Public Petitions: Reopening of Ennis, Nenagh and St. John's Emergency Departments: Discussion (23 May 2024)
Stephen Donnelly: In those four years we have added record levels of investment.
- Committee on Public Petitions: Reopening of Ennis, Nenagh and St. John's Emergency Departments: Discussion (23 May 2024)
Stephen Donnelly: I will come to that, but the Senator opened with a nakedly political point, which is, of course, his right. I am, though, going to respond with one. Sinn Féin has not called for the reopening of the accident and emergency departments. The party's spokesperson, and I believe he deserves great credit for this, resisted these calls and said he would follow the clinical advice. The...
- Committee on Public Petitions: Reopening of Ennis, Nenagh and St. John's Emergency Departments: Discussion (23 May 2024)
Stephen Donnelly: Certainly, when I took office, the situation not just in UHL but in several hospitals around the country in terms of trolleys was very challenging. One thing I would add, though, is that I acknowledge the healthcare workforce in UHL. This is something that gets very little attention because we all, very understandably, focus on the accident and emergency department. Those workers have...
- Committee on Public Petitions: Reopening of Ennis, Nenagh and St. John's Emergency Departments: Discussion (23 May 2024)
Stephen Donnelly: I have.
- Committee on Public Petitions: Reopening of Ennis, Nenagh and St. John's Emergency Departments: Discussion (23 May 2024)
Stephen Donnelly: I will answer the questions as I see fit. The Senator can ask the question he wants and I will give him an answer.
- Committee on Public Petitions: Reopening of Ennis, Nenagh and St. John's Emergency Departments: Discussion (23 May 2024)
Stephen Donnelly: I would say-----
- Committee on Public Petitions: Reopening of Ennis, Nenagh and St. John's Emergency Departments: Discussion (23 May 2024)
Stephen Donnelly: That is not why Waterford succeeded. That hospital succeeded because it got extra capacity and it fundamentally changed how it cared for patients. The Senator does not have to take my word for this. He can go down to Waterford-----
- Committee on Public Petitions: Reopening of Ennis, Nenagh and St. John's Emergency Departments: Discussion (23 May 2024)
Stephen Donnelly: -----and talk to the patients and ask the people running the accident and emergency department.
- Committee on Public Petitions: Reopening of Ennis, Nenagh and St. John's Emergency Departments: Discussion (23 May 2024)
Stephen Donnelly: To be very clear, Sinn Féin's publicly stated position is not to reopen those three accident and emergency departments.
- Committee on Public Petitions: Reopening of Ennis, Nenagh and St. John's Emergency Departments: Discussion (23 May 2024)
Stephen Donnelly: The Senator is asking me how I responded to UHL-----
- Committee on Public Petitions: Reopening of Ennis, Nenagh and St. John's Emergency Departments: Discussion (23 May 2024)
Stephen Donnelly: I am trying to answer the question.
- Committee on Public Petitions: Reopening of Ennis, Nenagh and St. John's Emergency Departments: Discussion (23 May 2024)
Stephen Donnelly: I ask the Cathaoirleach for his guidance. I am happy to answer questions but being shouted at while trying to answer them is not helpful. Can I just get the Cathaoirleach's guidance on this point?
- Committee on Public Petitions: Reopening of Ennis, Nenagh and St. John's Emergency Departments: Discussion (23 May 2024)
Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Cathaoirleach very much. In response to the Senator, we have invested in growing capacity not just in UHL but in the region at a level that has never been seen. We have an additional 1,200 staff and 108 beds, and nearly 200 more beds are being built on-site. We have invested-----
- Committee on Public Petitions: Reopening of Ennis, Nenagh and St. John's Emergency Departments: Discussion (23 May 2024)
Stephen Donnelly: -----in the hospitals in Ennis and Nenagh and in St. John's and in community care. What is happening in UHL is not happening in other hospitals. In just this year, other hospitals that have seen and are dealing with similar increases in presentations are driving down the trolley numbers. This time last year, the trolley count was lower than the previous year. This year, it has gone up...
- Committee on Public Petitions: Reopening of Ennis, Nenagh and St. John's Emergency Departments: Discussion (23 May 2024)
Stephen Donnelly: Just for the record, that is a false statement.
- Committee on Public Petitions: Reopening of Ennis, Nenagh and St. John's Emergency Departments: Discussion (23 May 2024)
Stephen Donnelly: I am more than happy to provide the reality of the figures to the Senator if he wants.
- Committee on Public Petitions: Reopening of Ennis, Nenagh and St. John's Emergency Departments: Discussion (23 May 2024)
Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Senator. Just to be clear, his characterisation of how both INMO and the HSE count the trolley figures is incorrect. In terms of the staff in UHL, the numbers of nurses, doctors, consultants and health and social care professionals there have gone up in the last year.
- Committee on Public Petitions: Reopening of Ennis, Nenagh and St. John's Emergency Departments: Discussion (23 May 2024)
Stephen Donnelly: The total number of staff in UHL now has increased by 42% compared to 2020.
- Committee on Public Petitions: Reopening of Ennis, Nenagh and St. John's Emergency Departments: Discussion (23 May 2024)
Stephen Donnelly: There are 1,200 more healthcare professionals working in that one hospital than there were four years ago. To suggest, therefore, that the embargo, which I know is having an impact on specialist teams because I have spoken to the nurses and doctors, is somehow responsible for what is going on in respect of the increase in trolley figures this year simply does not stack up in a hospital that...
- Committee on Public Petitions: Reopening of Ennis, Nenagh and St. John's Emergency Departments: Discussion (23 May 2024)
Stephen Donnelly: Regarding the number of people on trolleys, there is a very important point for the people of the mid-west who are watching this. I, too, saw the report and the information provided. I might ask our emergency department consultant to give the committee a brief account because it is a very stark figure. I know people in the mid-west will have seen that figure and will have believed that...