Results 6,741-6,760 of 49,836 for speaker:Stephen Donnelly

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: National Children's Hospital: Discussion (12 Jun 2019)

Stephen Donnelly: If Ms Hardiman would not mind.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: National Children's Hospital: Discussion (12 Jun 2019)

Stephen Donnelly: It worries me because CHI is able to give very useful and exact information on doctors, nurses and healthcare professionals when they are being hired and there is good news, but when we ask harder questions like where services will be rationalised, we suddenly hear two things. First, CHI has no numbers. Second, where technology is making entire areas redundant, CHI will find other jobs for...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: National Children's Hospital: Discussion (12 Jun 2019)

Stephen Donnelly: It does.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: National Children's Hospital: Discussion (12 Jun 2019)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank Ms Hardiman.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: National Children's Hospital: Discussion (12 Jun 2019)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank our guests for their ongoing energy. Being here can be gruelling and I imagine it is a lot more difficult on their side of the room than it is over here. Before I proceed to put further questions to our guests, I want to thank Deputy Durkan in his absence. He made some quite extraordinary statements earlier which, from what I can see, fit very neatly with Orwellian doublespeak. He...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: National Children's Hospital: Discussion (12 Jun 2019)

Stephen Donnelly: I was here for that. I intend to delve further into the issue. The Minister indicated that there would not be a private entrance, but what Ms Hardiman confirmed to Deputy O'Reilly was that there will be a private entrance within the concourse. If I understand the matter correctly, there will be a segregated entrance that will lead to dedicated consulting rooms for private patients. Is...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: National Children's Hospital: Discussion (12 Jun 2019)

Stephen Donnelly: So it is not the case that a consultant working in the hospital would only be engaged in public practice. He or she can rent one of the public rooms and do private work there.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: National Children's Hospital: Discussion (12 Jun 2019)

Stephen Donnelly: There will be a separate entrance to physically discrete suites for private patients.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: National Children's Hospital: Discussion (12 Jun 2019)

Stephen Donnelly: The answer is either "Yes" or "No." Will there be a separate entrance to the private suites?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: National Children's Hospital: Discussion (12 Jun 2019)

Stephen Donnelly: To be clear, Ms Hardiman is confirming that there will be a separate entrance to private suites for private patients.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: National Children's Hospital: Discussion (12 Jun 2019)

Stephen Donnelly: We are all aware that there are huge waiting lists for children in the context of getting access to diagnostics and treatment. However, those lists do not apply if a child's parents can afford to pay for the treatment. Are we potentially looking at a situation where there may be two children with the same condition who need to see the same consultant and where one child whose parents...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: National Children's Hospital: Discussion (12 Jun 2019)

Stephen Donnelly: We are physically building that into the new children's hospital.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: National Children's Hospital: Discussion (12 Jun 2019)

Stephen Donnelly: I take Ms Hardiman's point that it is a policy decision.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: National Children's Hospital: Discussion (12 Jun 2019)

Stephen Donnelly: I have a question about access to diagnostics. In the case of Temple Street hospital, for instance, a child who needs an MRI scan, in conjunction with a general anaesthetic, will be put on a 27-month waiting list. At more than two years, it is the longest wait time anywhere in the developed world. When the new hospital is operational and assuming there will still be these waiting lists,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: National Children's Hospital: Discussion (12 Jun 2019)

Stephen Donnelly: I understand that, but let us assume there will be waiting lists in the future.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: National Children's Hospital: Discussion (12 Jun 2019)

Stephen Donnelly: I understand the caveats, but I am asking a direct question. Will private patients have access to diagnostics through publicly purchased diagnostic machines such as MRI scanners?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: National Children's Hospital: Discussion (12 Jun 2019)

Stephen Donnelly: I am not sure people listening to this conversation will know what the answer to my question is based on what Ms Hardiman said. I am not saying she is trying to avoid answering it.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: National Children's Hospital: Discussion (12 Jun 2019)

Stephen Donnelly: It is a simple question and I ask Ms Hardiman to give a clear answer. We have publicly purchased MRI machines in hospitals. In many cases there is more than a two-year wait just for children to be given an appointment for a scan. Is it the case that parents will be able to pay for their children, as private patients, to access these machines more quickly than they would if their parents...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: National Children's Hospital: Discussion (12 Jun 2019)

Stephen Donnelly: There is no differentiation between patients in that regard?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: National Children's Hospital: Discussion (12 Jun 2019)

Stephen Donnelly: Under the current system, a private patient gets to see a consultant much more quickly. In a situation where a public patient and a private patient see a clinician on the same day, are both sent for an MRI scan and found to have the same level of medical need, will there be any difference in time of access as between the public and the private patient?