Results 13,181-13,200 of 26,685 for speaker:David Cullinane

Public Accounts Committee: Matters related to Medical Negligence, Open Disclosure, Cervical Cancer and Thalidomide Litigation (8 Nov 2018)

David Cullinane: I wish to ask three questions. The first relates to process and I believe there is something of a pushback from some civil servants on this, as they try to put the blame or the responsibility back onto politicians rather than take responsibility themselves. When the helpline was first set up to support the women affected by the CervicalCheck scandal, what issues emerged in calls to the...

Public Accounts Committee: Matters related to Medical Negligence, Open Disclosure, Cervical Cancer and Thalidomide Litigation (8 Nov 2018)

David Cullinane: Was retesting one of the demands?

Public Accounts Committee: Matters related to Medical Negligence, Open Disclosure, Cervical Cancer and Thalidomide Litigation (8 Nov 2018)

David Cullinane: They did not want a simple rereading of an original smear. I spoke to the Minister of Health directly on this and I know that among the demands of women who contacted the system was a demand for a new smear. Is that not correct?

Public Accounts Committee: Matters related to Medical Negligence, Open Disclosure, Cervical Cancer and Thalidomide Litigation (8 Nov 2018)

David Cullinane: GPs called for this as well. They would have had very distressed women come before them who needed to be supported, comforted and reassured. They contacted the Minister and the Department to tell them we needed to do something, following which the decision was made to give them free screening. That was the right decision and resources had to be put in. Huge pressure was put on the system...

Public Accounts Committee: Matters related to Medical Negligence, Open Disclosure, Cervical Cancer and Thalidomide Litigation (8 Nov 2018)

David Cullinane: My point is that this was not an overreaction by politicians or a panicked response. This view feeds into the notion that the women were hysterical and it amounts to blaming them. We should not blame the women who contacted the hotline to be reassured, following which a political decision was made. There are very few occasions on which I would support the Minister for Health but I support...

Public Accounts Committee: Matters related to Medical Negligence, Open Disclosure, Cervical Cancer and Thalidomide Litigation (8 Nov 2018)

David Cullinane: I want to come back to the issue of procurement, though I will not go over the issue of contracts being destroyed. I raised this issue because Dr. Scally found that there were problems with procurement. On page 77 of the Scally report, under a section on the analysis of key issues, he states that there appears to have been an overemphasis on obtaining the lowest cost from suppliers. Does...

Public Accounts Committee: Matters related to Medical Negligence, Open Disclosure, Cervical Cancer and Thalidomide Litigation (8 Nov 2018)

David Cullinane: I am going to come to the metrics in a moment but my very deliberate question was: Does Mr. McCallion accept what Dr. Scally is saying is that lower costs seem to trump quality?

Public Accounts Committee: Matters related to Medical Negligence, Open Disclosure, Cervical Cancer and Thalidomide Litigation (8 Nov 2018)

David Cullinane: That is what he said.

Public Accounts Committee: Matters related to Medical Negligence, Open Disclosure, Cervical Cancer and Thalidomide Litigation (8 Nov 2018)

David Cullinane: One can accept somebody's report - with respect, this is part of the problem - but one does not necessarily then say that one accepts the proposition that he has put in the report. The report in its general terms is accepted. That is fine. Specifically here he is talking about procurement. He is saying that costs seem to be the biggest issue for the HSE, not quality. I am asking if that...

Public Accounts Committee: Matters related to Medical Negligence, Open Disclosure, Cervical Cancer and Thalidomide Litigation (8 Nov 2018)

David Cullinane: The HSE does not know yet.

Public Accounts Committee: Matters related to Medical Negligence, Open Disclosure, Cervical Cancer and Thalidomide Litigation (8 Nov 2018)

David Cullinane: When the HSE is looking back will there be documents that will not be there?

Public Accounts Committee: Matters related to Medical Negligence, Open Disclosure, Cervical Cancer and Thalidomide Litigation (8 Nov 2018)

David Cullinane: The text states that the request for proposal, RFP, documentation for each primary tender consistently underspecified quality and service level expectations.

Public Accounts Committee: Matters related to Medical Negligence, Open Disclosure, Cervical Cancer and Thalidomide Litigation (8 Nov 2018)

David Cullinane: The part that troubles me from a public accounts committee perspective is one we seem to be coming across this time and again. When we look at procurement the issue arises as to whether sufficient metrics are in place to allow the Committee of Public Accounts to evaluate whether or not what has been set out as the objective has actually been met. We have seen this not just in procurement...

Public Accounts Committee: Matters related to Medical Negligence, Open Disclosure, Cervical Cancer and Thalidomide Litigation (8 Nov 2018)

David Cullinane: I am looking at what is in front of me in the report and I am not trying to put words into anyone's mouth. There are other issues that are not in the report that we could comment on which were maybe not covered. Mr. McCallion says that there were some issues he could not cover because he did not have the information. He says very clearly here there was and is - he went out of his way to...

Public Accounts Committee: Matters related to Medical Negligence, Open Disclosure, Cervical Cancer and Thalidomide Litigation (8 Nov 2018)

David Cullinane: He is obviously saying that they are not comprehensive enough and that the measurable suite of service delivery metrics - in other words what he or the Comptroller and Auditor General or we in the Committee of Public Accounts can use as a benchmark - are not there. What I am saying to Mr. McCallion is that this is not good for public servants. That is why there is a call for people to be...

Public Accounts Committee: Matters related to Medical Negligence, Open Disclosure, Cervical Cancer and Thalidomide Litigation (8 Nov 2018)

David Cullinane: I want to deal with management issues as well but to finish on procurement because this has come up in other areas. There seems to be a pattern where Dr. Scally says that: "There has been over-reliance on contract extensions." We have had that before and one of the reasons we were given is that not enough time was given over to looking at putting out new tenders and it might have been...

Public Accounts Committee: Matters related to Medical Negligence, Open Disclosure, Cervical Cancer and Thalidomide Litigation (8 Nov 2018)

David Cullinane: Is that a failure on the part of the HSE?

Public Accounts Committee: Matters related to Medical Negligence, Open Disclosure, Cervical Cancer and Thalidomide Litigation (8 Nov 2018)

David Cullinane: Okay, when I say "okay" I am saying however that there are a great many problems in that area of procurement that need to be addressed. I am still concerned that they are not being properly addressed but we will hopefully come back to look at this in the future. This is one of the areas we should follow up on. Dr. Scally also talked about the management issues and possible structural...

Public Accounts Committee: Matters related to Medical Negligence, Open Disclosure, Cervical Cancer and Thalidomide Litigation (8 Nov 2018)

David Cullinane: Page 34.

Public Accounts Committee: Matters related to Medical Negligence, Open Disclosure, Cervical Cancer and Thalidomide Litigation (8 Nov 2018)

David Cullinane: Identifying and the ability to identify risks is very important. He is basically saying here that there were governance issues and key weaknesses that he has identified. We are looking back and are seeing these. We want them corrected so that they do not happen again. To be corrected they have to be accepted and acknowledged. Are they accepted and acknowledged? Can Mr. McCallion see on...