Results 12,741-12,760 of 49,836 for speaker:Stephen Donnelly

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2020
Vote 38 - Department of Health (Supplementary) (2 Dec 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: They are factored in. The Deputy will remember from the budget debate that there is a pot of several hundred million euro as a provision against Covid measures and such things would be pulled from there. The distribution should be, relatively, cheaper than the vaccines themselves. The task force is currently working with the various State agencies on exactly how it would work. The...

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2020
Vote 38 - Department of Health (Supplementary) (2 Dec 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: Yes it is. I was talking to the public health experts about this today in the context of the statement from the UK yesterday. It is not necessarily the case that whichever vaccine comes on market first will simply be the one that everybody gets. My understanding is that different vaccines may be more suitable for different people or age groups. When we get the validation data from the...

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2020
Vote 38 - Department of Health (Supplementary) (2 Dec 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: No Government decision has been made on that but my unambiguous view is that the State should cover all costs, just as does with the flu vaccine. We cannot have a situation where there is any question of access being a problem because of affordability.

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2020
Vote 38 - Department of Health (Supplementary) (2 Dec 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: That is actually decided by NPHET.

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2020
Vote 38 - Department of Health (Supplementary) (2 Dec 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: That is a good question but I do not want to pre-empt the task force. Professor Brian MacCraith's group will report to the Government on 11 December, which is not that far off. This is exactly the kind of matter on which it will be coming to the Government with details and proposals.

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2020
Vote 38 - Department of Health (Supplementary) (2 Dec 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: It is. To reiterate, while the EMA is moving faster than normal in making its decisions on the Covid vaccines, it is applying exactly the same quality control. The only reason it is able to move faster is because it has set up special teams, for obvious reasons, because this is so important.

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2020
Vote 38 - Department of Health (Supplementary) (2 Dec 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: I share the Deputy's concern about this issue. The situation is probably understated in the figures because referrals have also dropped during Covid. The numbers relating to unmet or undiagnosed demand are probably higher in reality. What we are doing at the moment with the HSE is going through exactly that. We have supplied a very large amount of money for the permanent capacity in the...

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2020
Vote 38 - Department of Health (Supplementary) (2 Dec 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: Sorry-----

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2020
Vote 38 - Department of Health (Supplementary) (2 Dec 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: That is exactly what we are working through with the HSE at the moment.

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2020
Vote 38 - Department of Health (Supplementary) (2 Dec 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: No, but by the end of 2020 in the next few weeks we will have targets for the national service plan for next year.

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2020
Vote 38 - Department of Health (Supplementary) (2 Dec 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: Yes.

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2020
Vote 38 - Department of Health (Supplementary) (2 Dec 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: We will see them by the end of the year. I want to reach the point the Deputy is talking about. There is much talk about waiting lists and the number of people waiting. The Deputy's question is a much more important question: what are the waiting times? If 1 million people are waiting no more than a week, that is fine. The problem is that people are waiting too long. As a first step, we...

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2020
Vote 38 - Department of Health (Supplementary) (2 Dec 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: I do not know of the case of Elin who is awaiting an MRI scan. When I was appointed one of the first places I went was to Crumlin where I met the scoliosis team. This covers the situation for both Sophie and Elin. The hospital at Crumlin needs another MRI machine and the staff to operate it. The waiting list at Crumlin for urgent MRI scans under general anaesthetic for children is four...

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2020
Vote 38 - Department of Health (Supplementary) (2 Dec 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: No new offer has been made. I am working towards fixing the new entrant pay inequality. There is no lesser offer on the table at the moment.

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2020
Vote 38 - Department of Health (Supplementary) (2 Dec 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: Which discussions is the Deputy asking about?

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2020
Vote 38 - Department of Health (Supplementary) (2 Dec 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: Is it the new entrant pay inequality?

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2020
Vote 38 - Department of Health (Supplementary) (2 Dec 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: As quickly as possible. I raised this and pushed it as soon as I was appointed to the office. Along with Deputy Cullinane I addressed the conference and recommitted publicly to them. It is essential. It needs to be done very quickly. It is an all-of-Government decision because other groups are looking at this in the context of upcoming public sector pay talks. My intention is to move it...

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2020
Vote 38 - Department of Health (Supplementary) (2 Dec 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: I can only speak for myself. I cannot speak for an all-of-Government decision. If it were solely up to me, I would have unilaterally reversed it in full in July. That is when I would have done it. That is the priority I think it has.

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2020
Vote 38 - Department of Health (Supplementary) (2 Dec 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: Yes. I would have done it in the first week I was appointed. I looked into it immediately. It is an all-of-Government decision. Because there are wider pay considerations with upcoming pay talks, it was not possible at the time to do it. However, I consider it to be a very high priority. We are looking to do several good things as soon as possible. By as soon as possible, I do not mean...

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2020
Vote 38 - Department of Health (Supplementary) (2 Dec 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: I do not know the answer to that question. It would be part of the technical information that would be coming from the EMA post its decision, whichever way it goes, on the various vaccines.