Results 25,821-25,840 of 49,836 for speaker:Stephen Donnelly

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

Stephen Donnelly: Why did the Deputy not do that when he was Minister of State with responsibility for the national drugs strategy?

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

Stephen Donnelly: Why did the Deputy not do it?

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Hospital Procedures (3 Dec 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: Yes, I agree with the analysis by the Deputy. It is not about simply providing more home care, outpatients, operating theatres or diagnostics. We have got to look at the entire patient pathway. Can they get to the GP quick enough? Can the GP refer to a consultant or, better still, is there an intermediary, like an advance nurse practitioner scheme that we have seen treat and discharge...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Hospital Procedures (3 Dec 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: If the Deputy is willing to share his note then I will be delighted to take a look. There is no better insight that I get, no more than the Deputy, than meeting clinicians, healthcare providers, social care providers, patients and their families and seeing what is going on. An awful lot is working and people have done incredible work but, as the Deputy has quite rightly said, more is...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Hospital Procedures (3 Dec 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: I will. We have put in a vast amount of funding to significantly increase the community-based workforce and therapeutics. It has proven very difficult. There is a lot that we are doing, working with the HSE, to see what more we can do to train up, attract and retain people to work in community care.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Health Services (3 Dec 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: I share Deputy Tóibín's concern, as do the team running the national cancer control programme, NCCP, the Department and the HSE. The Department and the national cancer control programme are systematically studying the impact of Covid-19 on cancer services through data monitoring and monthly review meetings. I am sure I would be able to get the Deputy a detailed note on that if he...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Health Services (3 Dec 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: I agree with all of that. In terms of treatment, the numbers are as follows. The number of patients receiving chemotherapy this year is 95% of the number for 2019. The number of patients receiving radiation oncology in the period from January to August is 85% of the equivalent number for 2019. The equivalent figure for surgical oncology for January to August is 80% of the 2019 figure....

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Health Services (3 Dec 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: I am very happy to give that commitment. That step change is already under way. In the last year, there was a record increase in the number of hospital beds. Very shortly, we will have added approximately 1,000 hospital beds. To the Deputy's point, there are more than 500 Covid patients in hospital at the moment. We have added twice that number of beds in the last year. We are in the...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Health Services (3 Dec 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: They are all over the country. We can get the Deputy a breakdown of where they are.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Hospital Procedures (3 Dec 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Deputy. I looked into this and was advised that the HSE does not collect that specific information centrally. When I was preparing for this session, I noted that the Deputy's direct question had not been answered so I asked the Department to see if that information could be collected. The HSE collects data on cancellations locally but not centrally. Arguably, that is something...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Health Services (3 Dec 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Deputy for the question. It is such a critical issue and it has to be solved permanently. We are all very aware that waiting times for hospital procedures and appointments are unacceptably long. This applies to paediatric orthopaedics, as he rightly said. It is of particular concern to me when it comes to procedures that are time-sensitive, such as scoliosis and others...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Health Services (3 Dec 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: To be clear, it is not either-or. It is not revenue funding or the access to care fund. They are for different purposes. The revenue funding is to build up the permanent capacity in the system so we never see waiting lists like this again. While we are doing that, the access to care fund is used to ensure that the people who are currently waiting are seen. Cappagh Kids and the National...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Health Services (3 Dec 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: There is no lack of funding available under the access to care fund. If Eilísh Hardiman and the team are looking for money for short periods, which is what the access to care funding provides, there will be money left at the end of December. The HSE has not been able to spend all the money. That is not from want of desire to do so. Given all of the various issues that the HSE has...

Health (Amendment) (No. 3) Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (2 Dec 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: The points on masks and antigen testing are not relevant to the amendment. You cannot win. The Deputy stood up in this House time and again to say we need antigen tests and asked why we did not have them. When we bring them in-----

Health (Amendment) (No. 3) Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (2 Dec 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: I did not interrupt the Deputy. She came in and said we need antigen tests and asked why we did not have them. The Government stated we have antigen tests and the Deputy stood up and said it was outrageous that we have them because an expert said they should not be used. You cannot win, in fairness.

Health (Amendment) (No. 3) Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (2 Dec 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: Countries all over Europe are using antigen tests for exactly this kind of purpose. I have supported them for a long time. The Deputy has said more times than I can count or remember that the Government needs to embrace antigen tests. When we use antigen tests, the first thing the Deputy says is that we should not be using them. That is just extraordinary.

Health (Amendment) (No. 3) Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (2 Dec 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: I will speak to the amendment. I fully appreciate its intent. I cannot accept it because of technical concerns, such as the lack of definition in respect of certain matters, but I believe that what the Deputy is seeking to do is entirely appropriate and reasonable. I would like to commit to two things, to go further. First, I have a report on the operation of mandatory hotel quarantine to...

Health (Amendment) (No. 3) Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (2 Dec 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: The comments were not on the amendment, which is what I want to address. For clarity, the regulations will provide for up to 72 hours for a PCR test and 48 hours for an antigen test. We have had a 72-hour requirement for PCR tests for some time. Regardless, therefore, of the regulations we bring in tonight, the current rules are that, for those 12 years or older, someone who is...

Health (Amendment) (No. 3) Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (2 Dec 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: Yes, the stipulation is not around where the test was taken but when. We can all find cases where it will not work terribly well. We can all find circumstances where a person could, technically, get a PCR test here before leaving, go to London-----

Health (Amendment) (No. 3) Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (2 Dec 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: -----for a day and come home. You could not go to South Africa because you would have to home quarantine for ten days. In extremis, we can all find things in the legislation that do not necessarily work. We can also say there are people who are fully vaccinated who still end up in hospital, but that does not mean we do not provide vaccination. None of the measures are perfect. They are...