Results 22,361-22,380 of 49,836 for speaker:Stephen Donnelly

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Health Services Staff (31 Mar 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Deputy for the questions. Our hospitals are under very significant pressure. As of this morning, we have 1,610 patients in hospital with Covid. It is putting significant pressure on our hospitals, our patients, their families and our healthcare workers. I am conscious of, and fully understand, the calls that have been made through emergency medicine and the Irish Nurses and...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: National Maternity Hospital (31 Mar 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Deputy for his question. There will be a detailed session in the House on this issue this evening, at which I am sure we will get into greater detail. I reiterate my position since the start of this process. I will bring proposals on the new national maternity hospital to Government only if there are absolute guarantees of full independence for the national maternity...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Abortion Services (31 Mar 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: I am committed to ensuring safe access to termination of pregnancy services, and the area remains an ongoing priority for me, this Government and my Department, including progressing legislation this year. However, it is important that any legislative provisions are implementable and enforceable, and that they will stand up to any legal challenges that might be brought against them. It...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Health Services (31 Mar 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: I am pleased to inform the Deputy that the Health Service Executive, in its National Service Plan 2022, has committed to providing podiatry services to 85,866 patients in 2022. That is almost double the number of patients seen in 2021 (44,522). I am aware that there is currently no Podiatrist working in West Cork, despite a national campaign to fill the post. Cork Kerry Community...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Primary Care Centres (31 Mar 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: I am delighted to be able to inform the Deputy that progress is continuing on the new Primary Care Centre on Station Road in Ennis. HSE Estates has advised that the centre is scheduled to become operational during Quarter 3 this year. The opening of the Station Road centre will be a significant development in the delivery of community-based health services for the people of Ennis and the...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Hospital Waiting Lists (31 Mar 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: It is Government policy to ensure that all citizens get rapid access to the health care they need and reduction of all waiting list is my number one priority. Budget 2021 allocated €25million to implement an expanded programme of structured direct referrals to diagnostics services by GPs, and the GP Access to Diagnostics programme was launched in January 2021. The HSE advises that over...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Hospital Facilities (31 Mar 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the very difficult and unacceptable conditions for patients, families and healthcare staff working in University Hospital Galway. I visited Galway just a few weeks ago and it is clear that action is required there on multiple fronts- the ED, beds, diagnostics and staffing there. I am pleased to say that an interim emergency department,...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (31 Mar 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Deputy for raising this important question about frontline healthcare workers, who were crucial to the national effort over the past two years to meet the challenges of COVID-19. The Government announced a COVID-19 recognition payment for eligible frontline public sector healthcare workers, and equivalent healthcare workers in private nursing homes and hospices. This is to...

Written Answers — Department of Health: National Maternity Hospital (31 Mar 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: It is well known that the proposed corporate and clinical governance arrangements for the new National Maternity Hospital at Elm Park were set out in the Mulvey Agreement. That Agreement was finalised in 2016 following an extensive mediation process between the NMH and the St. Vincent’s Healthcare Group and it has also been published. The Mulvey Agreement provides for the establishment...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Health Strategies (31 Mar 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: Genomics has transformed our understanding of disease and our ability to deliver care in a way that is more specific and personal to each individual patient. By establishing the sequence of an individual’s genetic material, it is possible to identify sequences or mutations which are specific to that person. Not only can these sequences identify the cause or stage of a disease, or the...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Covid-19 Pandemic (31 Mar 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: I propose to take Questions Nos. 26 and 62 together. COVID-19 is a new disease so information on it, its features, incidence and course are still emerging. My Department, and the HSE, continue to review new evidence, research and data on all aspects of COVID19 including Long COVID, as it emerges, internationally and nationally, to ensure care is in place for all who need it. The HSE has...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Healthcare Infrastructure Provision (31 Mar 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: In December 2021 the Government agreed, subject to the necessary approvals and requirements under the Public Spending Code being met, a new National Elective Ambulatory Care Strategy. The development of additional capacity will be provided through dedicated, standalone Elective Hospitals in Cork, Galway and Dublin. The locations chosen will allow for new facilities of a size and scale to...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Health Services (31 Mar 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: I am advised that improving access to gynaecology services overall will assist many patients with endometriosis. In this regard, my Department is working with the HSE to develop “see and treat” ambulatory gynaecology clinics. Approximately 70% of general gynaecology referrals can be managed in the ambulatory setting. This will help reduce the need for multiple gynaecology...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Hospital Staff (31 Mar 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: Firstly, I am advised that the numbers employed by Cork University Hospital (CUH) have increased by 17% since the end of 2018. The HSE has informed me that the increase in COVID 19 cases over the past few weeks has placed CUH under pressure. This is due to the impact of the increase in cases being hospitalised and from the growing staff absences relating to COVID 19 infections. Despite...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Covid-19 Pandemic (31 Mar 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: My Department, through the Office of the Chief Medical Officer, together with colleagues in the HSE and the National Virus Reference Laboratory, continues to monitor the epidemiological profile carefully, and will provide public health advice to me as required for consideration.At present mask wearing is advised based on individual risk assessment, particularly while disease incidence is...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Primary Care Centres (31 Mar 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: As this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.

Written Answers — Department of Health: Hospital Overcrowding (31 Mar 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: I propose to take Questions Nos. 34, 51, 73, 105 and 109 together. I acknowledge the distress overcrowded Emergency Departments (EDs) cause to patients, their families, and frontline staff working in very challenging conditions in hospitals throughout the country. The current congestion in Emergency Departments is due to constrained bed capacity caused by combination of the high number of...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Hospital Services (31 Mar 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: As this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.

Written Answers — Department of Health: Healthcare Infrastructure Provision (31 Mar 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: The Cross Party Sláintecare Report in 2017 articulated a new vision for healthcare in Ireland, including the provision of elective only hospitals, providing protected capacity for elective care. The “Elective Hospitals Oversight Group”, under the joint governance of the Department of Health and HSE has been guiding the development of the elective hospital proposals,...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Hospital Overcrowding (31 Mar 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: I visited Limerick University Hospital on the evening of 16thFebruary and again on 17thFebruary when I also visited Croom Orthopaedic Hospital. I met patients, staff and the management team. My discussion with the Chief Executive Officer and the Executive Management Team of the hospital included unscheduled care activity, recruitment and staffing and waiting lists. We also discussed current...