Results 25,801-25,820 of 49,836 for speaker:Stephen Donnelly

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Hospital Overcrowding (3 Dec 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Deputy. As he rightly acknowledges, very substantial additional capacity has been added in UHL but as he also rightly says, still more is required. We are still looking at patients waiting on trolleys at a level we must move away from. In 2017 a new €24 million emergency department opened. Since the start of last year, 132 additional beds have been provided, which is a...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Hospital Overcrowding (3 Dec 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank Deputy Griffin. He was not right but I must take advice from the Acting Chairman on this. The Deputy's question is a fundamentally different one. The question posed is about UHL. The Deputy is asking a completely different question. It is a very valid one about UHK and I would like to answer but it is not supplemental to this question. I can send him a detailed note. He and I...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Hospital Overcrowding (3 Dec 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: -----and fewer patients get seen. With the Acting Chairman's indulgence-----

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Hospital Overcrowding (3 Dec 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: -----I do not know if it is possible-----

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Hospital Overcrowding (3 Dec 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: -----to get 60 seconds to respond to the Deputy.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Hospital Overcrowding (3 Dec 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: I apologise to Deputy Carey.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Healthcare Infrastructure Provision (3 Dec 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: I apologise to the Deputy. He might bear with me. There are not as many people turning up on a Friday.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Healthcare Infrastructure Provision (3 Dec 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Deputy very much for his question. It is an essential one on an essential piece of infrastructure for Cork and indeed the entire region. The provision of additional elective care delivery capability in Cork, Galway and Dublin is, as the Deputy will be aware, stated Government policy. The purpose of elective care centres is to initially provide high volume, low- to...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Healthcare Infrastructure Provision (3 Dec 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: It is recognised that the current elective care capacities do not meet current demand and there will be even greater demand for elective care services in the future. Incremental refinements to the current public hospital network will not, I think we can all agree, be sufficient to meet this demand by themselves. The electives proposal has guided the work of the elective hospitals oversight...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Primary Care Centres (3 Dec 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: With Ennistymon, a number of price proposals have been received and the HSE's estates division is engaging with the promoter of the top-ranked proposal. It is hoped that a firm proposal to meet HSE requirements can be agreed and progressed. On Kilrush, a review of the current facilities and the overall accommodation requirements for the area is due to be undertaken. We will seek a more...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Hospital Overcrowding (3 Dec 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: I am acutely aware of the scale of the challenge facing our emergency departments across the country this winter and the extra demands Covid is placing on them. Our front-line staff are exhausted from 20 months of dealing with Covid yet continue to deliver a high standard of care to all. I wish to thank them and acknowledge the distress that overcrowded emergency departments cause to...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Misuse of Drugs (3 Dec 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: Why did the Deputy not do it then instead of shouting down others now?

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Covid-19 Pandemic (3 Dec 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Deputy for the question. Many people look at this and wonder if it is consistent. With the EU Covid-19 certificate we have a recognised recovery period of six months and as the Deputy has said, we have recent advice from HIQA that has been endorsed by National Public Health Emergency Team, NPHET, that the presumptive period is nine months. It is a reasonable question as to why...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Covid-19 Pandemic (3 Dec 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: I am telling the Deputy the standard is set at an EU level. HIQA has made its recommendations and they have been endorsed by NPHET but the EU regulation sets the six-month period. I am advised the EU is not actively considering reviewing that six-month period at this time.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Covid-19 Pandemic (3 Dec 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: To be clear, the Deputy's question is "to ask the Minister for Health his plans to extend the validity of the digital Covid-19 certificate to nine months" and I am answering that directly. I am saying the digital Covid-19 certificate is based on an EU-set regulation.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Covid-19 Pandemic (3 Dec 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: That is right. It is not being considered at an EU level at this point. Of course I will ask the Department to provide the Deputy with a detailed briefing on the EU regulation concerned.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Covid-19 Pandemic (3 Dec 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: It is no problem at all. The advice I have is from the Department, which engages with the EU.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Covid-19 Pandemic (3 Dec 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: Sure.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Primary Care Centres (3 Dec 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: I am very pleased to inform the Deputy that a number of primary care centre developments are being progressed in County Clare. In addition to the existing primary care centre in Westbury, the site at Station Road, Ennis, is under construction and is expected to be operational by mid-summer 2022. The HSE is also continuing to work with a developer on another centre in Ennis on the Tulla Road...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Primary Care Centres (3 Dec 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: I do. Station Road in Ennis is under construction and planning permission has been sought to increase the floor area of the building to provide for additional services. A decision is awaited from An Bord Pleanála on this additional application. Subject to the decision, which we all hope will be in the affirmative while we obviously full respect the independence of the process, the...