Results 9,661-9,680 of 49,836 for speaker:Stephen Donnelly

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: State Response to Recent Spike in Covid-19 Cases (Resumed) (26 Aug 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: To the best of my knowledge, no. None of them will be redeployed healthcare workers.

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: State Response to Recent Spike in Covid-19 Cases (Resumed) (26 Aug 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: Can the Deputy say that again?

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: State Response to Recent Spike in Covid-19 Cases (Resumed) (26 Aug 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: No, they are coming largely from the Civil Service.

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: State Response to Recent Spike in Covid-19 Cases (Resumed) (26 Aug 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Deputy. Like her, I am acutely aware of the number of people on trolleys. I also accept the INMO figures. I appreciate that the HSE uses a different model, but the Deputy and I have used the INMO figures for a long time. With regard to reduced capacity, the figure is not 40%. Deputy Cullinane and I had a conversation about this earlier. The reduced capacity in terms of...

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: State Response to Recent Spike in Covid-19 Cases (Resumed) (26 Aug 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: Can the Deputy say that again?

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: State Response to Recent Spike in Covid-19 Cases (Resumed) (26 Aug 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: What about the convention centre?

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: State Response to Recent Spike in Covid-19 Cases (Resumed) (26 Aug 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: Yes.

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: State Response to Recent Spike in Covid-19 Cases (Resumed) (26 Aug 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: There very well may be. For example, we have 29 additional community assessment hubs which can be looked at. There are 700 intermediate care beds and 400 additional acute hospital beds. I want funding and resources so that all of the beds which have been opened can remain open. Obviously, the Deputy will understand that some of the additional beds, such as the intermediate care beds, have...

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: State Response to Recent Spike in Covid-19 Cases (Resumed) (26 Aug 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: -----is to look at exactly that question of additional modular capacity that can be brought on very quickly.

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: State Response to Recent Spike in Covid-19 Cases (Resumed) (26 Aug 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: The hospitals are currently working at 96% capacity, so from a base of, I think, 11,000 inpatient beds, we are at 96% capacity. There is no breakdown of exactly which beds are closed because of staff shortages or infection prevention and control measures. As I am sure the Deputy will appreciate, the hospitals are now balancing an awful lot of different factors, including staffing, safe...

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: State Response to Recent Spike in Covid-19 Cases (Resumed) (26 Aug 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: The safe staffing levels the Deputy and I both advocated very strongly last year have not happened, unfortunately. What I found out was that while progress was being made, that progress was essentially stopped dead because of Covid. We are working with the INMO, and I have met INMO representatives and discussed this with them. We continue to work it through with them to get to safe...

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: State Response to Recent Spike in Covid-19 Cases (Resumed) (26 Aug 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: I can tell the Deputy there are 500 vacant consultant posts-----

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: State Response to Recent Spike in Covid-19 Cases (Resumed) (26 Aug 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: I do not think anyone can answer that question right now. I would like to fill all 500, and we are doing a variety of things to that end. We have agreed some of the C contracts. We are moving quickly on the new Sláintecare contract, which is essentially like a super A contract. We are looking to do that in the current Dáil term. We will also look at ways to address the new...

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: State Response to Recent Spike in Covid-19 Cases (Resumed) (26 Aug 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: We are currently at approximately 35% penetration in respect of the app. The international evidence suggests that we need 25% for it to be effective, so we are well ahead of that, and I thank everybody for that. I will urge a word of caution when the Deputy states that people have lost confidence. Let us be very careful about what we say about this. It is a very important weapon in our...

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: State Response to Recent Spike in Covid-19 Cases (Resumed) (26 Aug 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: Neither the Deputy nor I knows that so, given the roles we are in, let us not jump to those conclusions. The app works. It was rolled out very successfully. It is providing valuable information to the contact tracers. It is saving lives. All the people who have it on their phones are doing their part.

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: State Response to Recent Spike in Covid-19 Cases (Resumed) (26 Aug 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: That is one of the most important questions any of us can ask right now. I acknowledge that in my time on the committee, the Deputy was a tireless advocate on exactly this question and making sure these measures were in place. "Yes" is the short answer. We have a useful report from HIQA, which examined half of nursing homes that did not have Covid outbreaks and assessed them under a wide...

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: State Response to Recent Spike in Covid-19 Cases (Resumed) (26 Aug 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: As part of the Covid measures that have been taken, 2.6 million additional home care hours have been allocated. That is to do exactly as the Deputy said. We have to do everything we can to keep patients, particularly those more vulnerable to Covid-19, out of hospitals. As the Deputy said, one of the most important ways of doing that is to provide adequate home care hours. An additional...

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: State Response to Recent Spike in Covid-19 Cases (Resumed) (26 Aug 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: I know I am out of time but given the sensitivity of the topic I ask the Chairman if I can take a short bit of time to respond to the Deputy?

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: State Response to Recent Spike in Covid-19 Cases (Resumed) (26 Aug 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Chair. I share the Deputy's sentiment on what has happened. Along with us all, I express my sincere condolences to Mary Bartley Meehan, to her family and to Mr. Meehan's family, during what must be an extremely difficult time. HIQA is investigating what happened. They are providing a report.

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: State Response to Recent Spike in Covid-19 Cases (Resumed) (26 Aug 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: To answer the Deputy's question, if I believe the HIQA report does not sufficiently answer the questions that the family has a right to know, then I will act.