Results 7,981-8,000 of 34,780 for speaker:Seán Fleming

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Semi-State Bodies Remuneration (6 Nov 2014)

Seán Fleming: 14. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform his views on the payment of bonuses and incentive pay at Irish Water and other semi-State agencies; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42046/14]

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Sector Allowances Expenditure (6 Nov 2014)

Seán Fleming: 29. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the breakdown by Department and allowance category of the savings in allowances in 2014; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42048/14]

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Sector Reform Implementation (6 Nov 2014)

Seán Fleming: 34. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform when the Haddington Road agreement expires; if he has indicated to the public sector unions if and when talks on a successor agreement will commence; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42050/14]

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (6 Nov 2014)

Seán Fleming: Of all the audits not certified by 31 October, the Comptroller and Auditor General said two thirds of them were with senior management. He indicated that in the first six months of the year he contracts some consultancy staff to help with the field work and contracts out some of the work to other companies. The bottleneck appears to be at senior manager review level. This begs the question...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (6 Nov 2014)

Seán Fleming: It must be remembered that the Department concerned is the Department of Finance. The clerk will understand what I am saying.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (6 Nov 2014)

Seán Fleming: Mr. McCarthy should tell them he is under pressure from the Committee of Public Accounts.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 83 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Managing Elective Day Surgery (6 Nov 2014)

Seán Fleming: I thank the witnesses for attending. I am looking at the documentation we have, including the Comptroller and Auditor General's report, and I thank the witnesses for the briefing note they furnished also. We also have our own summary. I am trying to understand the big picture before we get into the little picture. We have been told that there were 247,000 surgical procedures in 2012, the...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 83 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Managing Elective Day Surgery (6 Nov 2014)

Seán Fleming: That is fine. Paragraph 1.2 of the HSE's briefing note reads: "There are currently 2,102 day case places nationally. Of these, 1,530 are public, 293 private and the remainder are non-designated". I will not hone in on the last point. The 293 cases represent 14% of day case places. I hope Dr. O'Connell is following me.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 83 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Managing Elective Day Surgery (6 Nov 2014)

Seán Fleming: Of the 61,000 inpatient cases, what percentage are private? The HSE claims it has the exact numbers in respect of day case places, but what is the comparison between public and private inpatient places?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 83 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Managing Elective Day Surgery (6 Nov 2014)

Seán Fleming: That is interesting.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 83 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Managing Elective Day Surgery (6 Nov 2014)

Seán Fleming: That was my hunch. Some 14% of people who opt for day surgery are private patients, but the comparable percentage opting for inpatient treatments is much higher. Does this have anything to do with the operation of the private health industry? If someone needs a day case procedure, he or she may need to pay for it and reclaim the cost from a private health insurer at a later date. If...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 83 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Managing Elective Day Surgery (6 Nov 2014)

Seán Fleming: Am I right? That was my instinct about how Irish society and hospitals worked and the HSE's figures verify it. What can we do about this situation?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 83 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Managing Elective Day Surgery (6 Nov 2014)

Seán Fleming: Does Dr. O'Connell take my point? It was a valid, if not empirically proven, observation, but even the HSE's figures demonstrate that more private patients want to be kept in overnight. That approach might suit the surgeon, but it certainly suits the client, as the bills go straight to the VHI, Laya or another insurer. Convenience is a factor. I have not seen particular information in...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 83 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Managing Elective Day Surgery (6 Nov 2014)

Seán Fleming: Will the HSE provide it? The Comptroller and Auditor General's report runs to 50 pages, but it is the first one I have seen that does not contain a single euro symbol. We are the Committee of Public Accounts. We might discuss health, outcomes and so forth, but this is a discussion of numbers, percentages of targets, percentages of the 24 procedures, percentages of pre-operative assessments...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 83 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Managing Elective Day Surgery (6 Nov 2014)

Seán Fleming: To follow the report. I am gently saying that I would like to see a few money-----

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 83 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Managing Elective Day Surgery (6 Nov 2014)

Seán Fleming: Like the consultant, I will not. However, nothing I have read so far gives any indication of the savings to be achieved by the HSE's targets. If the HSE reached a 75% target - I am pleased to hear that it has reached 77% on average this year - how much would it save? I cannot find even a single sentence on this issue. Does the HSE know? Is it a financial target or a procedures, numbers...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 83 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Managing Elective Day Surgery (6 Nov 2014)

Seán Fleming: What about outpatient procedures?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 83 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Managing Elective Day Surgery (6 Nov 2014)

Seán Fleming: Is that €12.5 million an annual figure?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 83 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Managing Elective Day Surgery (6 Nov 2014)

Seán Fleming: Some €4 million per annum. If an inpatient procedure costs €4,000 or so and staying in the bed overnight costs an extra €800, every inpatient case that is moved to a day case surgery results in a saving of at least €4,000.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 83 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Managing Elective Day Surgery (6 Nov 2014)

Seán Fleming: I accept that, but I am trying to get some sense of the money.