Results 7,221-7,240 of 49,836 for speaker:Stephen Donnelly

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues: Discussion (2 Oct 2019)

Stephen Donnelly: At the moment, Cavan and Sligo hospitals can hire. Is that correct?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues: Discussion (2 Oct 2019)

Stephen Donnelly: I want to pick up on Claire Healy's case. I know it was discussed at length at the committee two weeks ago but I want to come back to a statement we got from the HSE. Due to the long wait in the public system and that she was high-risk, Claire Healy went private. She is a CervicalCheck patient and went to a hospital. She was sent a letter which stated: Thank you for referring the above...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues: Discussion (2 Oct 2019)

Stephen Donnelly: Will Mr. Reid accept that the original instruction was confusing? The suggestion is that people were confused by what they were told by the HSE. Can he accept that the HSE got it wrong and then corrected it?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues: Discussion (2 Oct 2019)

Stephen Donnelly: I know it caused confusion. This is playing with words. If people are told not to see private patients, one is not confusing them. Instead, one is telling them to not see private patients. Will the HSE accept that in telling hospitals to not see patients who had a private test that they were not confusing those hospitals but telling them something they should not have told them? Is that fair?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues: Discussion (2 Oct 2019)

Stephen Donnelly: I know. Can Mr. Reid answer the question I asked?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues: Discussion (2 Oct 2019)

Stephen Donnelly: Coming back to an issue raised by Deputy Tóibín about Sharon Butler Hughes. I appreciate it is an individual case but I am asking this with her permission. Her clear understanding is that the Minister will agree to meet her but he has ruled out discussing certain issues with her. I think I heard the Minister say to Deputy Tóibín that he will discuss anything with her....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues: Discussion (2 Oct 2019)

Stephen Donnelly: I understand. On this, however, she is specifically referenced in that report. She now wants to meet the Minister to discuss that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues: Discussion (2 Oct 2019)

Stephen Donnelly: Absolutely and they should feel free to discuss that with the Minister as well. I do not want to misrepresent what he said. My understanding is that he agreed to meet but with preconditions as to what will be discussed. Is that correct?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues: Discussion (2 Oct 2019)

Stephen Donnelly: Is the Minister willing to discuss with her?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues: Discussion (2 Oct 2019)

Stephen Donnelly: I was looking for clarification. On overspending for the year, has the Minister a full-year Estimate at this point? It was up to €281 million for the end of July. Has he an Estimate for the end of the year?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues: Discussion (2 Oct 2019)

Stephen Donnelly: We are days away from the budget, which must have an estimated figure. When will we have that figure?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues: Discussion (2 Oct 2019)

Stephen Donnelly: Whatever that figure is, last year it was added to the base for this year. Is that the intention again? If it is, say, €300 million, will it be paid for out of next year's budget, meaning less funding available next year for business as usual?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues: Discussion (2 Oct 2019)

Stephen Donnelly: I want to come back to access. The Chairman suggested that he felt no sense of urgency from the Minister. I am not saying the Minister does not care. We all care. However, I do not get a sense of urgency from the healthcare system or the political leadership, which is the Minister. I reiterate that I have read back through all the opening statements and there is no mention of the crisis...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues: Discussion (2 Oct 2019)

Stephen Donnelly: Just to be clear, it is the conundrum of how, with €3.5 billion in additional spending, there are more than a million people now on the waiting lists who were on them three, four, five or six years ago. That is the question.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues: Discussion (2 Oct 2019)

Stephen Donnelly: I will try to hit five. I will start locally, for the Minister and I. We received figures, recently enough, that the CHO for our area has sanction for 14 mental health professionals to support children with disability - an extraordinarily important and worthy set of supports. Not a single one of those has been filled. From the 14 sanctioned posts, zero has been filled. This means...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues: Discussion (2 Oct 2019)

Stephen Donnelly: What is going on is extraordinary. My next question concerns an MRI machine for the Carlow-Kilkenny region. People raised €250,000 in 2016 and the Minister met them in July 2018, saying the money would be released within weeks for the building in which the machine would be placed. As of last week, when they approached me, nothing has happened. The Minister gave a commitment in July...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues: Discussion (2 Oct 2019)

Stephen Donnelly: The question for them is whether the money for the building has been provided for.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues: Discussion (2 Oct 2019)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Minister. On the maternity strategy, we have discussed at this committee before the fact that the Coombe was meant to be moved in parallel to the national children's hospital. The Minister stated he would do his best to release funding to get that process moving. Has that happened?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues: Discussion (2 Oct 2019)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Minister.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues: Discussion (2 Oct 2019)

Stephen Donnelly: There are two bits to my final question, although they are not necessarily related. It might be more of a question where the HSE might come back to the committee. There is a fundamental difference in views as to what is going on with nurses not being hired. I have heard the HSE statement and the caveat that there is no embargo in place but there may be conditions where financial plans have...