Results 7,641-7,660 of 11,572 for speaker:Mary Butler

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (30 Nov 2022)

Mary Butler: Up to 18 November, 452 employers had submitted funding applications to pay their employees the recognition payment. That would include a lot of nursing homes and healthcare workers.

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (30 Nov 2022)

Mary Butler: We know that there are 433 private nursing homes, for example. In total, it is 452 employers so that would include conventional nursing units.

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (30 Nov 2022)

Mary Butler: Yes. To date, 23 nursing homes have received their payments so this is ongoing at the moment.

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (30 Nov 2022)

Mary Butler: From 452 employers.

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (30 Nov 2022)

Mary Butler: They only came in on 18 November so this is ongoing.

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (30 Nov 2022)

Mary Butler: More than likely, yes. That is the plan.

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (30 Nov 2022)

Mary Butler: I thank the Deputy for his question on the nursing home sector, about which we have had many conversations. Some 80% of beds provided in the nursing home sector are operated by private and voluntary organisations. Just under 4% fall into the voluntary category so approximately 76% are private. The fair deal scheme supports 18,000 beds in the private sector. Last year, close to €1...

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (30 Nov 2022)

Mary Butler: I will give the Deputy an example from-----

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (30 Nov 2022)

Mary Butler: Deputy Burke makes a very valid point. It is working very well in University Hospital Waterford, where we do not have any people on trolleys because we have a service level agreement for up to 45 beds in nursing homes throughout the community as far as Dungarvan and into New Ross. There is no shortage of money to do that. These are what we call "transitional step-down beds". In some...

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (30 Nov 2022)

Mary Butler: The HSE community nursing units will always step in if a resident does not have an appropriate place to go. If a person needs to be discharged from an acute hospital and a private or voluntary nursing home is not in a position to take that person because of his or her complex care needs, the HSE will always step in. Under the fair deal scheme, we currently have 4,500 beds in community...

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (30 Nov 2022)

Mary Butler: If I can come in there, that is a proposed underspend but, as of 2 November this year, there were Covid outbreaks in 72 nursing homes. We continue to pay temporary assistance payments to any nursing home in which there is an outbreak of Covid. As I have said, Covid is not gone completely. As of the start of this month, it was in 72 nursing homes. That budget will also be used in that way....

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (30 Nov 2022)

Mary Butler: May I also just come in on the issue of personal protective equipment, PPE, because it is important and I did not get to come in on it earlier? Since the outbreak of Covid, some €67.5 million worth of PPE and oxygen has been provided to private nursing homes. I do not have the specific breakdown for 2022 but, up to August this year, the spend on PPE and oxygen was €67 million.

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (30 Nov 2022)

Mary Butler: As we know, the nursing home sector has changed in recent decades from a predominantly State-led service to a situation today where approximately 80% of nursing home services are provided by the private sector and 4% by voluntary organisations. As I said earlier, private nursing homes provide vital residential care to over 18,000 people on behalf of the State. It is interesting to note that...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Emergency Departments (6 Dec 2022)

Mary Butler: I thank Deputies Nash, Guirke, O'Rourke and O'Dowd for raising the matter of the ambulance bypass protocols at Navan hospital's emergency department and for providing me with the opportunity to update the House on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Donnelly. There are a number of ambulance bypass protocols in place throughout the country at this time and they are important to ensure patients...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Emergency Departments (6 Dec 2022)

Mary Butler: I thank the Deputies for their contributions on this matter. I know how important it is. I also know that the Minister shares a concern to ensure that patients in Navan, County Meath in general, the north east and any other part of the country can access urgent services when they need them. As I mentioned earlier, there is currently an ambulance bypass protocol in place for Our Lady's...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Health Service Executive (6 Dec 2022)

Mary Butler: I want to thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. I want to thank him for the work he did to advocate for that family. As the Deputy said, his parents wanted to bring their little man home. If the Deputy had not raised the issue here, that might not have happened. That little man is at home tonight with the comfort of his parents and his two brothers, I am thankful that it is...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Health Service Executive (6 Dec 2022)

Mary Butler: Palliative care is a core component of healthcare provision in Ireland. We have to make sure it is available to every child and adult when they need it, whether it is at home or in hospital. We do not think often enough about it until we hear the story of a young child whose parents were heartbroken because they did not have the opportunity to bring their little man home. The Deputy said...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Care of the Elderly (7 Dec 2022)

Mary Butler: I thank the Deputy for raising this issue and I welcome the opportunity to discuss day care centres because they are such an important provision for older people. There are three key points in supporting older people to live well in their own homes: home care, day care centres and meals on wheels. When the three are working in collaboration with each other, it makes an important difference...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Care of the Elderly (7 Dec 2022)

Mary Butler: The Deputy is quite right in what she said. We all know the benefits of day care centres. It is one of my priorities to get them open as safely and as securely as possible. One of the areas where we have seen challenges is in day care centres that were adjacent to or part of amenity nursing units, which were our old style community hospitals. Any place in which there was a day care...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Cancer Research (7 Dec 2022)

Mary Butler: I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue and it is great to get the opportunity to discuss it. The Minister and myself are committed to supporting our national population-based screening programmes. As we all know, screening saves lives and it is important that decisions on changes to our existing screening programmes, such as changes to the age range eligible for screening, are...