Results 2,081-2,100 of 11,246 for speaker:Colm Burke

Public Accounts Committee: NAMA Financial Statements 2022 and Special Report 116 of the Comptroller and Auditor General (28 Sep 2023)

Colm Burke: On the properties that NAMA still has, are there any with legal issues attached? One of the problems the banks had when dealing with properties was that legal issues arose that complicated the process.

Public Accounts Committee: NAMA Financial Statements 2022 and Special Report 116 of the Comptroller and Auditor General (28 Sep 2023)

Colm Burke: The issue I am really interested in is defective title. Is there still a problem with defective title?

Public Accounts Committee: NAMA Financial Statements 2022 and Special Report 116 of the Comptroller and Auditor General (28 Sep 2023)

Colm Burke: There are still some problems.

Public Accounts Committee: NAMA Financial Statements 2022 and Special Report 116 of the Comptroller and Auditor General (28 Sep 2023)

Colm Burke: Will they be finalised within the next 12 months?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Spinal Surgery Issues at Children's University Hospital Temple Street: Children's Health Ireland (28 Sep 2023)

Colm Burke: I might ask to speak first as I have to leave shortly.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Spinal Surgery Issues at Children's University Hospital Temple Street: Children's Health Ireland (28 Sep 2023)

Colm Burke: I thank the Chair for facilitating me. I thank the witnesses for coming in. How many consultants are there in the hospitals in Dublin under Children's Health Ireland?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Spinal Surgery Issues at Children's University Hospital Temple Street: Children's Health Ireland (28 Sep 2023)

Colm Burke: In any case, it is over 300.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Spinal Surgery Issues at Children's University Hospital Temple Street: Children's Health Ireland (28 Sep 2023)

Colm Burke: What process is available with regard to the accountability and supervision of that number? What checks and balances are there? This is one of the things that seems to have occurred here. We are also talking about quite a number of senior registrars as well. What checks and balances are there in each individual hospital?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Spinal Surgery Issues at Children's University Hospital Temple Street: Children's Health Ireland (28 Sep 2023)

Colm Burke: What checks and balances do the clinical directors have in place?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Spinal Surgery Issues at Children's University Hospital Temple Street: Children's Health Ireland (28 Sep 2023)

Colm Burke: I am aware of that. For argument’s sake, let us say there is a consultant who does not turn up to clinics but leaves a senior registrar to deal with that. What checks and balances are there for that?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Spinal Surgery Issues at Children's University Hospital Temple Street: Children's Health Ireland (28 Sep 2023)

Colm Burke: When Dr. Goldman talks about surgery for complex cases, how long do operations last? What is the time period? Obviously, the longer an operation goes on, the higher the risk. What kind of average time period are we talking about for this type of operation?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Spinal Surgery Issues at Children's University Hospital Temple Street: Children's Health Ireland (28 Sep 2023)

Colm Burke: Therefore, the more complex it is, the higher the risk to the patient and the higher the risk of errors arising, I presume.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Spinal Surgery Issues at Children's University Hospital Temple Street: Children's Health Ireland (28 Sep 2023)

Colm Burke: At what stage do the reviews take place? For example, when we identified there was quite a high level of infection rates, surely the team would review it. Is it once a week or once a month?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Spinal Surgery Issues at Children's University Hospital Temple Street: Children's Health Ireland (28 Sep 2023)

Colm Burke: We have identified quite a number of cases. In one case, for instance, a child had to go back into theatre on 33 separate occasions. Surely the checks and balances are about reviewing and making sure errors did not arise. Surely the reason that infections were rising was identified.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Spinal Surgery Issues at Children's University Hospital Temple Street: Children's Health Ireland (28 Sep 2023)

Colm Burke: When quite a large number of patients are having infections, is it adequate to have a review once a month? Should it not take place far more frequently?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Spinal Surgery Issues at Children's University Hospital Temple Street: Children's Health Ireland (28 Sep 2023)

Colm Burke: In doing that review, would there be consultations with teams from outside the jurisdiction as regards what the hospital may be getting wrong and what they are doing in a different jurisdiction?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Spinal Surgery Issues at Children's University Hospital Temple Street: Children's Health Ireland (28 Sep 2023)

Colm Burke: I am talking about outside of the hospital, for instance, where Ms Kelly had identified that there had been quite a number of difficulties in cases which were being reviewed. Was there consultation at a very early stage with outside people who were independent of the hospital involved?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Spinal Surgery Issues at Children's University Hospital Temple Street: Children's Health Ireland (28 Sep 2023)

Colm Burke: Was it then identified with regard to a change of process to ensure that the infection rate could be reduced?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Spinal Surgery Issues at Children's University Hospital Temple Street: Children's Health Ireland (28 Sep 2023)

Colm Burke: From figures given to us today, there are around 15,500 theatre procedures. What percentage of those are major operations and what percentage would be day care or minor operations?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Spinal Surgery Issues at Children's University Hospital Temple Street: Children's Health Ireland (28 Sep 2023)

Colm Burke: Returning to what occurred here, where there was something used which was not authorised, how does the hospital administration know that there is not somebody else doing something similar within any one of the hospitals at the present time?