Results 10,741-10,760 of 49,836 for speaker:Stephen Donnelly

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Business of Special Committee (30 Sep 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: Agreed.

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Business of Special Committee (30 Sep 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: The HSE is best placed to advise on what it wishes to do with that capacity. Through the winter plan and the previous Estimate of approximately €2 billion, it was resourced to scale up. From memory, the Citywest contract ended in November and the HSE was holding the facility until then. I am more than happy to get a detailed note for the Deputy on that.

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Business of Special Committee (30 Sep 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: I will get a note for the Deputy on that.

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Business of Special Committee (30 Sep 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: My understanding is that it is hoped to have all graduate nurses will be on full-time contracts.

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Business of Special Committee (30 Sep 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: Yes. Like Deputy O'Reilly, I want to move away from the agency model to full-time staff. The Deputy and I agree that we have to staff up to the safe staffing levels for nurses and midwifery. Some funding is provided for that in the winter plan. I am hoping to secure, through the Estimates process, permanent funding to continue scaling that up. As the Deputy will appreciate, I cannot say...

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Business of Special Committee (30 Sep 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: Funding for each part of that is again an operational matter for the HSE but I can get a breakdown on that for the Deputy, if she wants one.

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Business of Special Committee (30 Sep 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: I have not seen any discussion on salaried GPs but what we have seen is a very significant discussion on additional supports for GPs. For example, with regard to the flu vaccination programme, the funding per vaccination last year was €15 based on volume and that will now be about €25. There is ongoing funding for the Covid call and follow-up testing. There will be ongoing...

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Business of Special Committee (30 Sep 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: The Deputy will appreciate that I am not being drawn on any comments about primary care centres in Balbriggan. However, I will say that for the first time we are going to see a significant move towards access for diagnostics for GPs in the community.

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Business of Special Committee (30 Sep 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: There were two different rounds to this. The first covered restart grants for disability services. Each disability service was encouraged to submit a business case to the HSE and funding was then to be released to help with restart issues, such as Perspex screens, social distancing measures, etc. I am more than happy to get the Deputy a detailed note as to what amount was drawn down from...

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Business of Special Committee (30 Sep 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: It happened throughout the middle of the year.

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Business of Special Committee (30 Sep 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: I am not sure where the figure of €120 million comes from. I ask the Deputy to provide me with a source on that. It sounds high to me, but I am more than happy to look at what that is from. I had a very useful meeting with a service provider, which has operations in my constituency. We went through some of the difficulties it is having. The disability providers are doing an...

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Business of Special Committee (30 Sep 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: Most definitely. We quickly had to create a testing and tracing system out of thin air. Some of it requires clinical training. Our therapists did amazing things. They volunteered as swabbers and as part of the first call on contact tracing. They also volunteered to be deployed to our nursing homes, which were dealing with extraordinary crises. Physiotherapists in Wicklow whose roles did...

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Business of Special Committee (30 Sep 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: The other witnesses, probably Dr. Glynn in particular, are best placed to answer that. Ultimately, NPHET makes recommendations to me and to the Government.

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Business of Special Committee (30 Sep 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: May I just add to that?

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Business of Special Committee (30 Sep 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: I believe that the Chairman is not on the clock.

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Business of Special Committee (30 Sep 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: I agree with the sentiment expressed by the Chairman that we need as much transparency as possible. One of the things that we have done over the past few months is publish and make available more of the clinical case data and so forth. He will be aware that recently we moved to electoral district data for the 14-day averages. I am working with the relevant groups to make sure that is...

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Business of Special Committee (30 Sep 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: I would have no interest in looking into it-----

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Business of Special Committee (30 Sep 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: NPHET is, essentially, civil servants, members of HSE and others who provide advice. It is advised by the expert advisory group, which just this week comes under the remit of HIQA. There can be no question of conflict of interest. Groups such as this advise governments all the time and such requirements are not required. I know that the Chairman is not suggesting that there is any...

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Business of Special Committee (30 Sep 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: I certainly hope that we are not moving to a permanent body. I, and everyone else, want to see the end of NPHET as soon as possible in terms of it no longer being required for the virus. We must, however, be open to all scrutiny. If there is a case to be made for any of these suggestions then it certainly will be looked at. I re-emphasise that there is no suggestion of conflicts of interest.

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Business of Special Committee (30 Sep 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: Yes. If it was at a State board level then any and all of the appropriate procedures should be put in place. The majority of people on NPHET are from the Department and HSE who advise Government on a wide variety of issues all of the time. Obviously Covid-19 is one of the biggest.