Results 5,661-5,680 of 7,412 for speaker:Neasa Hourigan
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Implementation of Sláintecare Reforms: Department of Health and HSE (Resumed) (14 Jun 2023)
Neasa Hourigan: Good morning everybody. I will happily add my compliments on the enhanced community care programme and progress there. I want to focus mostly on staffing and workforce planning. Before I do, the last time we met Mr. Watt undertook to create an estimate for the implementation of Sláintecare. Does he have that there?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Implementation of Sláintecare Reforms: Department of Health and HSE (Resumed) (14 Jun 2023)
Neasa Hourigan: I do not want to park it but Mr. Watt knows his views on it so maybe he can tell me those views on it.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Implementation of Sláintecare Reforms: Department of Health and HSE (Resumed) (14 Jun 2023)
Neasa Hourigan: On providing an estimate for the implementation of Sláintecare to the committee, or to the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council, IFAC, as was mentioned in that discussion.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Implementation of Sláintecare Reforms: Department of Health and HSE (Resumed) (14 Jun 2023)
Neasa Hourigan: It is a stand-alone Government programme and Mr. Watt undertook in December to create an estimate, given all those concerns.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Implementation of Sláintecare Reforms: Department of Health and HSE (Resumed) (14 Jun 2023)
Neasa Hourigan: Can I take it from that that Mr. Watt does not have an estimate for the cost of Sláintecare?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Implementation of Sláintecare Reforms: Department of Health and HSE (Resumed) (14 Jun 2023)
Neasa Hourigan: I take that point.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Implementation of Sláintecare Reforms: Department of Health and HSE (Resumed) (14 Jun 2023)
Neasa Hourigan: Do we know how much we need to invest in Sláintecare to get to the finishing line? Is Mr. Watt telling me that he cannot give me a number which is over and above what we would have spent on healthcare otherwise?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Implementation of Sláintecare Reforms: Department of Health and HSE (Resumed) (14 Jun 2023)
Neasa Hourigan: Sorry, Mr. Watt. I have very little time and want to move on to the staffing issue. I do not particularly want the individual elements of it. What we discussed in September was the stand-alone programme of implementing Sláintecare, which is a main policy thrust of successive Governments. Coming from a budgetary oversight position, one would want to know the cost of that policy. Mr....
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Implementation of Sláintecare Reforms: Department of Health and HSE (Resumed) (14 Jun 2023)
Neasa Hourigan: Okay. If we can move on to staffing, I was reading through the documents. Something that struck me, based on some conversations we have had in this committee room recently, is that we often talk about clinical care, but could somebody give me information about staffing requirements in the future for ICT and data management? What is the workforce planning for that for the health service?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Implementation of Sláintecare Reforms: Department of Health and HSE (Resumed) (14 Jun 2023)
Neasa Hourigan: Does Ms Hoey have any numbers in front of her in regard to the increase?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Implementation of Sláintecare Reforms: Department of Health and HSE (Resumed) (14 Jun 2023)
Neasa Hourigan: Can we have a projection of what is expected, separately? ICT is slightly separate from data management because there are some disciplines where data management is part of the actual medical service. I am thinking of such things as genetics where data management is required as part of the medical service. If we can have a breakdown of ICT increases over the past year, in that medium term...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Implementation of Sláintecare Reforms: Department of Health and HSE (Resumed) (14 Jun 2023)
Neasa Hourigan: -----but also into the future. We spoke in this committee recently of the significant investment by both of the bodies that are here today in ICT and the future of data as it relates to the health service. I would expect to see some fairly significant staffing requirements for that. That brings me on to staffing as it relates to consultants and management. As Mr. Gloster will recall, that...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Implementation of Sláintecare Reforms: Department of Health and HSE (Resumed) (14 Jun 2023)
Neasa Hourigan: If we want to get a handle on our costs there, what would Mr. Gloster expect to see in regard to management consulting in-house and how are we managing that in terms of workforce planning? I presume we are going to have to take on people who are doing things that private firms do for the HSE right now.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Implementation of Sláintecare Reforms: Department of Health and HSE (Resumed) (14 Jun 2023)
Neasa Hourigan: That was Cork, was it? It referred to a specific area.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Implementation of Sláintecare Reforms: Department of Health and HSE (Resumed) (14 Jun 2023)
Neasa Hourigan: Okay.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Implementation of Sláintecare Reforms: Department of Health and HSE (Resumed) (14 Jun 2023)
Neasa Hourigan: If €113 million of that relates to management consultants, that leaves-----
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Implementation of Sláintecare Reforms: Department of Health and HSE (Resumed) (14 Jun 2023)
Neasa Hourigan: That leaves approximately €60 million for service providers. Would they be part-time staff or locums?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Implementation of Sláintecare Reforms: Department of Health and HSE (Resumed) (14 Jun 2023)
Neasa Hourigan: Let us say in the case of a capital project, they will do a review of that.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Implementation of Sláintecare Reforms: Department of Health and HSE (Resumed) (14 Jun 2023)
Neasa Hourigan: I do not mean to cut across you. That is interesting information. When Mr. Gloster says there are 400 people, is he implying there are 400 people effectively working full-time in a role that services the HSE or is it just part of a contract?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Implementation of Sláintecare Reforms: Department of Health and HSE (Resumed) (14 Jun 2023)
Neasa Hourigan: When Mr. Gloster says the dependency has grown too high, is he saying that those same reports and that same work is happening in house? It is not that the same level of oversight would not be done. Obviously we still need the independent oversight of projects.