Results 5,241-5,260 of 11,285 for speaker:Colm Burke

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Substance Misuse and its Impact on Communities: Discussion (1 Dec 2021)

Colm Burke: We should have the Department in at an early stage for reasons relating to how the budget for the coming year is managed and the allocations to the groups working in the community. That is why I would seek to have the officials in at an early stage.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Substance Misuse and its Impact on Communities: Discussion (1 Dec 2021)

Colm Burke: It is actually €29 million.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Business of Joint Committee (7 Dec 2021)

Colm Burke: I support going ahead with the meeting today. As was said, we can fix a date for resuming the business of this meeting. In other words, we would not conclude consideration of this issue today because we do not have sufficient time and we would resume consideration of it on a date to be agreed.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Review of Scope and Structure of Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act: Engagement with Minister for Health (8 Dec 2021)

Colm Burke: I very much welcome that the terms of reference for the review are now available. My first question relates to fatal foetal abnormality. One of the reports we have received sets out that half of the foetal medicine specialists have expressed uncertainty regarding a diagnosis being deemed fatal, given it depends on an individual's definition of what is fatal. Will the review examine that...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Review of Scope and Structure of Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act: Engagement with Minister for Health (8 Dec 2021)

Colm Burke: I raise the issue because I am aware of two cases where different interpretations were given in maternity units. In one case, the person had booked airline tickets to travel to the UK for a termination and was persuaded to try a second maternity unit in Ireland, which adopted a different approach and provided the termination. In fact, the second maternity unit was correct in the action it...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Review of Scope and Structure of Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act: Engagement with Minister for Health (8 Dec 2021)

Colm Burke: The next issue I raise relates to smaller maternity units. I think there are 19 maternity units in the country. The smaller units would not have the same number of consultants as the larger ones. In fact, some of them have only three or four. Their argument, in the context of trying to provide services, relates to not having sufficient support. Over the next 12 months, even before we...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Review of Scope and Structure of Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act: Engagement with Minister for Health (8 Dec 2021)

Colm Burke: Does the Minister agree there needs to be engagement with the smaller units at this stage to see what problems they have identified and what action they are seeking to be taken in order that they can have the necessary supports in place?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Review of Scope and Structure of Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act: Engagement with Minister for Health (8 Dec 2021)

Colm Burke: Who is carrying out that review with the smaller units? The Minister indicated there was an ongoing review, but is somebody specifically engaged in conducting that review or is it just done within each area of the HSE?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Review of Scope and Structure of Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act: Engagement with Minister for Health (8 Dec 2021)

Colm Burke: The Minister referred to the clinical lead in each area but is there an overall person nationally who co-ordinates with those clinical leads and who has individual engagement with the smaller units?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Review of Scope and Structure of Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act: Engagement with Minister for Health (8 Dec 2021)

Colm Burke: Over the past 12 months, for instance, what level of engagement has occurred from a national point of view with the smaller units?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Review of Scope and Structure of Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act: Engagement with Minister for Health (8 Dec 2021)

Colm Burke: I thank the Minister.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Ambulance Services: Discussion (15 Dec 2021)

Colm Burke: I thank our guests for their presentation and for all the work they are doing. I am sure they are dealing with very challenging situations on a daily basis. I thank them for the care and service they provide. I want to touch on two issues. One is turnaround times at hospitals. Does the ambulance service sit down and discuss the issues with management? Are the front-line medical people...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Ambulance Services: Discussion (15 Dec 2021)

Colm Burke: Yes. Would Mr. Kenny deal with the issue I raised about the link with hospitals? Is that link purely with management or are the front-line staff in accident and emergency departments such as the nurses and doctors involved in those discussions? I have heard from ambulance personnel that they have a solution but they are not being listened to.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Ambulance Services: Discussion (15 Dec 2021)

Colm Burke: It is all fine engaging with management and ambulance personnel identifying solutions and conveying them to management, but are those solutions being conveyed down the line? Is there a three-way engagement between medical staff, management and the ambulance service? That is the question I am asking.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Ambulance Services: Discussion (15 Dec 2021)

Colm Burke: Is that not a real flaw in the system?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Ambulance Services: Discussion (15 Dec 2021)

Colm Burke: Is Mr. Kenny aware of that happening? He spoke about the situation in Kerry. Is he aware of that level of engagement in, say, Cork or Limerick?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Ambulance Services: Discussion (15 Dec 2021)

Colm Burke: Does Mr. Kenny accept it would be better if there was joined-up thinking and management and the front-line medical people, namely, the nurses, doctors and care assistants in accident and emergency departments, also attended those meetings or at least part of them, rather than medical people being dealt with at third hand after the ambulance management talk to hospital management?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Ambulance Services: Discussion (15 Dec 2021)

Colm Burke: Can I ask Mr. Kenny-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Ambulance Services: Discussion (15 Dec 2021)

Colm Burke: I have a further question on unnecessary ambulance call-outs. The figures from Dublin Fire Brigade show there were 8,532 calls in November 2020 whereas there were 12,657 in November 2021, an increase of more than 4,000. That is a substantial increase in one year for the same month. Is there any explanation for that dramatic increase in a 12-month period? Could some of those people have...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Ambulance Services: Discussion (15 Dec 2021)

Colm Burke: From feedback from staff and colleagues, has Mr. McEvoy found that ambulance services are sometimes called out unnecessarily, with the result that much valuable time is being used in circumstances where people could have availed of other transport to reach medical facilities?