Results 1,961-1,980 of 6,944 for speaker:Michael McNamara
- Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Congregated Settings: Nursing Homes (Resumed) (18 Jun 2020)
Michael McNamara: The witnesses may or may not know this. How many people on any given day are still in acute hospitals even though their course of treatment has finished?
- Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Congregated Settings: Nursing Homes (Resumed) (18 Jun 2020)
Michael McNamara: Some 400 people are taking up beds in acute hospitals, whose treatment is complete and they are waiting for somewhere else to go. The only reason they are there is because they have nowhere else to go, even during these times of Covid.
- Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Congregated Settings: Nursing Homes (Resumed) (18 Jun 2020)
Michael McNamara: Four hundred is the answer. Mr. Walsh mentioned international comparators and how we needed to be able to free up our acute hospitals because we did not know what was coming at us. Everyone accepts that. The lack of ventilators in Ireland was pointed out at the time. How many have been bought since 1 March?
- Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Congregated Settings: Nursing Homes (Resumed) (18 Jun 2020)
Michael McNamara: Deputy Colm Burke mentioned that about 56% of nursing homes had no incidence of Covid, which is obviously good news. Did anyone look at why that was and, in particular, whether there is any correlation between the 56% and nursing homes that did not receive discharges from acute hospitals?
- Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Congregated Settings: Nursing Homes (Resumed) (18 Jun 2020)
Michael McNamara: No, I heard that and appreciate the answer, but did the HSE look at whether there is a correlation between the 56% of nursing homes that had no incidence of Covid and those nursing homes that did not receive discharges from acute hospitals?
- Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Congregated Settings: Nursing Homes (Resumed) (18 Jun 2020)
Michael McNamara: Has that correlation been looked at?
- Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Congregated Settings: Nursing Homes (Resumed) (18 Jun 2020)
Michael McNamara: I understand that. Has the HSE examined whether there is a link between the 56% of nursing homes where there is no incidence and the number of nursing homes where there were no discharges from acute hospitals?
- Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Congregated Settings: Nursing Homes (Resumed) (18 Jun 2020)
Michael McNamara: Not yet.
- Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Congregated Settings: Nursing Homes (Resumed) (18 Jun 2020)
Michael McNamara: That has not been looked at? That has or has not been looked at?
- Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Congregated Settings: Nursing Homes (Resumed) (18 Jun 2020)
Michael McNamara: Media reports suggest there were 240 deaths in the ten worst affected nursing homes. Is that correct? Were those ten worst affected nursing homes on the list HIQA sent to the HSE, expressing its concerns?
- Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Congregated Settings: Nursing Homes (Resumed) (18 Jun 2020)
Michael McNamara: The question was more specific. HIQA sent the HSE a list, or it told the committee it did so, of nursing homes that it had specific concerns about in the context of Covid-19.
- Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Congregated Settings: Nursing Homes (Resumed) (18 Jun 2020)
Michael McNamara: First, is it correct that in the ten worst affected nursing homes there were 240 deaths, as reported in the media? Second, were those nursing homes on the list sent to the HSE by HIQA which was concerned about specific nursing homes?
- Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Congregated Settings: Nursing Homes (Resumed) (18 Jun 2020)
Michael McNamara: I thank Mr. Walsh very much. Mr. Breslin talked about resuming visits to nursing homes. I heard on "Morning Ireland" on Monday, or perhaps it was Tuesday, the suggestion that people would visit their loved ones in nursing homes through a Perspex screen. Is that actually happening and is it satisfactory to the Department of Health and the HSE?
- Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Congregated Settings: Nursing Homes (Resumed) (18 Jun 2020)
Michael McNamara: Is that through a Perspex screen?
- Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Congregated Settings: Nursing Homes (Resumed) (18 Jun 2020)
Michael McNamara: I thank Dr. Henry. So there are no Perspex screens then. Is that what I am hearing?
- Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Congregated Settings: Nursing Homes (Resumed) (18 Jun 2020)
Michael McNamara: As somebody who has taken legal instructions from people through screens in prisons and visited a loved one for a considerable period of time in a nursing home, I personally would have concerns about Perspex.
- Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Congregated Settings: Nursing Homes (Resumed) (18 Jun 2020)
Michael McNamara: I do fully accept that precautions have to be taken but screens seem to me to be somewhat dehumanising.
- Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Congregated Settings: Nursing Homes (Resumed) (18 Jun 2020)
Michael McNamara: I thank Dr. MacLellan. It is noteworthy that the advice is entirely compliant with WHO guidelines. Mr. Breslin mentioned that he is looking at RIP.iefor excess deaths. Given that the Oireachtas beefed up the power of the registration service for deaths, births and marriages, why is he looking at RIP.iedata rather than data from the register of births, deaths and marriages?
- Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Congregated Settings: Nursing Homes (Resumed) (18 Jun 2020)
Michael McNamara: I thank Mr. Breslin. I have two final questions. I do appreciate his forbearance. He mentioned the expert panel report that is being led by Professor Kelleher. As a committee we hope to look at that. When does he expect the report?
- Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Congregated Settings: Nursing Homes (Resumed) (18 Jun 2020)
Michael McNamara: My final question does not relate to nursing homes but to something that was in the media today. Good results seem to be coming from the use of the steroid dexamethasone, which is not a particularly expensive one, but it is not yet used in Ireland. Could anybody explain why that is or what the plans are around it?