Results 2,281-2,300 of 3,336 for speaker:Kate O'Connell

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (25 Oct 2018)

Kate O'Connell: It might be wise to broaden it past incontinence wear because that might help to avoid the issue with people's personal details. In my previous job, I had reason to notice that it is not just incontinence products that are not covered, or "coded", by the HSE. Complex syringes are not covered either. We often hear of residents getting a bill for blister packing of medications, for catheters...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (25 Oct 2018)

Kate O'Connell: It depends on what is classed as the key issue. The key issue here is charges on people in residential homes in addition to their regular bills. The can range from bingo to incontinence pads. It is a wider issue if people are vulnerable and-----

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 10 - Funding and Oversight of Approved Housing Bodies
Vote 34 - Housing, Planning and Local Government
2017 Financial Statements - Housing Agency (25 Oct 2018)

Kate O'Connell: I thank all of the witnesses for coming in and for the work they do in the most challenging of circumstances. My focus since I came into the Dáil has mainly been on health, and HSE representatives tend to get a fair beating in the media when things are not going well. I am very conscious of the fact that many of the witnesses here today also get the raw end of the stick sometimes, even...

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 10 - Funding and Oversight of Approved Housing Bodies
Vote 34 - Housing, Planning and Local Government
2017 Financial Statements - Housing Agency (25 Oct 2018)

Kate O'Connell: Mr. McCarthy has answered the first number of questions. With regard to the issue of the delivery of homes and supply, we have a skills shortage as a result of emigration and a drop in the number of people entering the sector. Are we doing anything to attract people back home to work in the sector? Will Mr. McCarthy outline any measures his Department or other Departments are taking to...

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 10 - Funding and Oversight of Approved Housing Bodies
Vote 34 - Housing, Planning and Local Government
2017 Financial Statements - Housing Agency (25 Oct 2018)

Kate O'Connell: The Department has moved to a point where it is as efficient as the private sector. Is it fair to say that?

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 10 - Funding and Oversight of Approved Housing Bodies
Vote 34 - Housing, Planning and Local Government
2017 Financial Statements - Housing Agency (25 Oct 2018)

Kate O'Connell: Have they been positive? Has the board approved them?

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 10 - Funding and Oversight of Approved Housing Bodies
Vote 34 - Housing, Planning and Local Government
2017 Financial Statements - Housing Agency (25 Oct 2018)

Kate O'Connell: Five of how many?

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 10 - Funding and Oversight of Approved Housing Bodies
Vote 34 - Housing, Planning and Local Government
2017 Financial Statements - Housing Agency (25 Oct 2018)

Kate O'Connell: Right.

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 10 - Funding and Oversight of Approved Housing Bodies
Vote 34 - Housing, Planning and Local Government
2017 Financial Statements - Housing Agency (25 Oct 2018)

Kate O'Connell: Yes.

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 10 - Funding and Oversight of Approved Housing Bodies
Vote 34 - Housing, Planning and Local Government
2017 Financial Statements - Housing Agency (25 Oct 2018)

Kate O'Connell: Other than having no home, what is the most common reason for people presenting as homeless? Is it family breakdown, substance misuse or stigma? Other than the bed or the solution, and I hate the term "housing solution" because it seems so made up, and other than a place to stay and a roof over someone's head, what is the reason? Is the Department doing anything to try to get at it from...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Overspend on the Health Budget 2018: Discussion (24 Oct 2018)

Kate O'Connell: Who?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Overspend on the Health Budget 2018: Discussion (24 Oct 2018)

Kate O'Connell: When Deputy Durkan was asking about the price of the orphan or high-tech drugs, Mr. Mulvany spoke of the robust assessment that happens, I assume through the National Centre for Pharmacoeconomics. That is all good. Am I correct in saying that there is scope for a Minister to override the economic decision of that group? If the quality-adjusted life year, QALY, number comes back as not...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Overspend on the Health Budget 2018: Discussion (24 Oct 2018)

Kate O'Connell: The sums.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Overspend on the Health Budget 2018: Discussion (24 Oct 2018)

Kate O'Connell: What I am getting at is that in the UK, where there is perhaps pressure or the QALY does not come in as being approved, they often allow 18 months or two years of treatment period with a new drug and for the patient to be assessed thereafter so that one is not merely giving it and letting it go continuously. If it is a high-price drug, it is reassessed to see what impact it is having on the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Overspend on the Health Budget 2018: Discussion (24 Oct 2018)

Kate O'Connell: We are here discussing income of the HSE and it seems reasonable.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Overspend on the Health Budget 2018: Discussion (24 Oct 2018)

Kate O'Connell: I know all this but my question was specific. Mr. Mulvany knows my question. When the HSE initiates somebody, a child or adult, on an expensive high-tech or orphan drug on which perhaps the sum does not add up but a decision is made to give it, has the HSE any way of pulling back from that decision if the therapy is not giving bang for buck?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Overspend on the Health Budget 2018: Discussion (24 Oct 2018)

Kate O'Connell: I am aware that in the UK, one way they deal with it is by saying a patient can have it but there should be an outcome as per the trials. They will give it but if a patient is not getting the results, they will state they cannot spend £100,000 a month on injections or whatever.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Overspend on the Health Budget 2018: Discussion (24 Oct 2018)

Kate O'Connell: I brought it up here some time ago. Perhaps someone asked this question while I was absent but do we know where we stand with the €17 billion spend on health? What is our income from private? I remember from Sláintecare it was about €5 billion. Is it still €5 billion that private is funding into public? What is the total?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Overspend on the Health Budget 2018: Discussion (24 Oct 2018)

Kate O'Connell: It is half a billion euro.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Overspend on the Health Budget 2018: Discussion (24 Oct 2018)

Kate O'Connell: How do we stand now in terms of the OECD? Are we the highest spend? I think we were the second or third last year. Are we top of the list now per capita?