Results 23,781-23,800 of 74,100 for speaker:Bernard Durkan
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Hospital Consultants Contract: Discussion (13 Dec 2017)
Bernard Durkan: Yes.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Hospital Consultants Contract: Discussion (13 Dec 2017)
Bernard Durkan: I hate to interrupt again, but back in the days when a visiting committee from the old health boards descended on a hospital, skin and hair flew if there was somebody missing. Is that not true?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Hospital Consultants Contract: Discussion (13 Dec 2017)
Bernard Durkan: Mr. Woods does not remember that far back, but it is not too long ago.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Hospital Consultants Contract: Discussion (13 Dec 2017)
Bernard Durkan: I assure Mr. Woods that it was not too long ago. There is a serious gap in the system if we have not been able to add a supervisory role for somebody at local or regional level. It is clearly missing and there is a serious disadvantage from the point of view of the taxpayer and the volume of patients who are waiting for treatment.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Hospital Consultants Contract: Discussion (13 Dec 2017)
Bernard Durkan: It is not.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Hospital Consultants Contract: Discussion (13 Dec 2017)
Bernard Durkan: Surely, those who carry out the audits must have all of the information at their fingertips or on a screen in front of them. When it appears on the screen in front of them, what do they do? Do they say today is a bad day, that they should export more patients to the National Treatment Purchase Fund or that they should find out where are all of the people who are on contracts?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Hospital Consultants Contract: Discussion (13 Dec 2017)
Bernard Durkan: Beds.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Hospital Consultants Contract: Discussion (13 Dec 2017)
Bernard Durkan: When did it first become obvious that consultants were not fulfilling their contracts?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Hospital Consultants Contract: Discussion (13 Dec 2017)
Bernard Durkan: Are they engaged in monitoring clinical directors or are they subservient to clinical directors or vice versa?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Hospital Consultants Contract: Discussion (13 Dec 2017)
Bernard Durkan: Therefore, consultants are monitoring themselves.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Hospital Consultants Contract: Discussion (13 Dec 2017)
Bernard Durkan: Mr. Woods does not need to. All he needs to do is concentrate on public hospitals.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Hospital Consultants Contract: Discussion (13 Dec 2017)
Bernard Durkan: I know.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Hospital Consultants Contract: Discussion (13 Dec 2017)
Bernard Durkan: What percentage of consultants have not been fulfilling their contracts? Has that been worked out? It appears that this is normal.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Hospital Consultants Contract: Discussion (13 Dec 2017)
Bernard Durkan: It might be helpful.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Hospital Consultants Contract: Discussion (13 Dec 2017)
Bernard Durkan: I thought the Chairman was demoting me. He gave me a terrible fright. With all the references to ageism and so on, that would worry me greatly. I have been watching developments in the health service for a considerable time. Long waiting lists are not new. Ten years ago, people were waiting two, three, four or five years for hip operations. I know that because I dealt with such people....
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Hospital Consultants Contract: Discussion (13 Dec 2017)
Bernard Durkan: Why?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Hospital Consultants Contract: Discussion (13 Dec 2017)
Bernard Durkan: I do not accept that at all because it has been suggested to me that it is more economical to park patients in corridors and waiting areas and to close wards at the same time. I do not accept that. I think it is far more effective, efficient and comfortable for everybody, both those working in the system and those in receipt of services from the system, to at least have the wards open so...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Hospital Consultants Contract: Discussion (13 Dec 2017)
Bernard Durkan: I am sorry. I have to leave, as the Chairman knows. I ask that, at some stage in the not-too-distant future, we have another meeting to discuss this issue and to find out if we can monitor the activity in the system and identify the snags that some consultants make known to me that I think are simple to resolve, and I am only a simple guy, apart from the fact that my hair has gone grey now.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Hospital Consultants Contract: Discussion (13 Dec 2017)
Bernard Durkan: What percentage of those were interviewed on RTÉ?
- Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Brexit Negotiations (13 Dec 2017)
Bernard Durkan: 49. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the extent to which he continues to liaise with his EU colleagues and the UK Government in the context of ongoing negotiations in respect of Brexit; if he has been assured that the UK government continues to ensure that the DUP is briefed on progress; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53168/17]