Results 26,781-26,800 of 34,777 for speaker:Seán Fleming

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 83 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Managing Elective Day Surgery (6 Nov 2014)

Seán Fleming: Am I right? That was my instinct about how Irish society and hospitals worked and the HSE's figures verify it. What can we do about this situation?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 83 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Managing Elective Day Surgery (6 Nov 2014)

Seán Fleming: Does Dr. O'Connell take my point? It was a valid, if not empirically proven, observation, but even the HSE's figures demonstrate that more private patients want to be kept in overnight. That approach might suit the surgeon, but it certainly suits the client, as the bills go straight to the VHI, Laya or another insurer. Convenience is a factor. I have not seen particular information in...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 83 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Managing Elective Day Surgery (6 Nov 2014)

Seán Fleming: Will the HSE provide it? The Comptroller and Auditor General's report runs to 50 pages, but it is the first one I have seen that does not contain a single euro symbol. We are the Committee of Public Accounts. We might discuss health, outcomes and so forth, but this is a discussion of numbers, percentages of targets, percentages of the 24 procedures, percentages of pre-operative assessments...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 83 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Managing Elective Day Surgery (6 Nov 2014)

Seán Fleming: To follow the report. I am gently saying that I would like to see a few money-----

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 83 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Managing Elective Day Surgery (6 Nov 2014)

Seán Fleming: Like the consultant, I will not. However, nothing I have read so far gives any indication of the savings to be achieved by the HSE's targets. If the HSE reached a 75% target - I am pleased to hear that it has reached 77% on average this year - how much would it save? I cannot find even a single sentence on this issue. Does the HSE know? Is it a financial target or a procedures, numbers...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 83 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Managing Elective Day Surgery (6 Nov 2014)

Seán Fleming: What about outpatient procedures?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 83 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Managing Elective Day Surgery (6 Nov 2014)

Seán Fleming: Is that €12.5 million an annual figure?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 83 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Managing Elective Day Surgery (6 Nov 2014)

Seán Fleming: Some €4 million per annum. If an inpatient procedure costs €4,000 or so and staying in the bed overnight costs an extra €800, every inpatient case that is moved to a day case surgery results in a saving of at least €4,000.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 83 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Managing Elective Day Surgery (6 Nov 2014)

Seán Fleming: I accept that, but I am trying to get some sense of the money.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 83 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Managing Elective Day Surgery (6 Nov 2014)

Seán Fleming: We all know that everything that is involved is complex, but if the average saving per case of moving a procedure from inpatient to day case surgery was €4,000, there would be a saving of €4 million for every thousand such switches. Mr. Hardy is nodding in disagreement.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 83 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Managing Elective Day Surgery (6 Nov 2014)

Seán Fleming: I thank the witnesses for attending. I am looking at the documentation we have, including the Comptroller and Auditor General's report, and I thank the witnesses for the briefing note they furnished also. We also have our own summary. I am trying to understand the big picture before we get into the little picture. We have been told that there were 247,000 surgical procedures in 2012, the...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (6 Nov 2014)

Seán Fleming: Of all the audits not certified by 31 October, the Comptroller and Auditor General said two thirds of them were with senior management. He indicated that in the first six months of the year he contracts some consultancy staff to help with the field work and contracts out some of the work to other companies. The bottleneck appears to be at senior manager review level. This begs the question...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (6 Nov 2014)

Seán Fleming: It must be remembered that the Department concerned is the Department of Finance. The clerk will understand what I am saying.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (6 Nov 2014)

Seán Fleming: Mr. McCarthy should tell them he is under pressure from the Committee of Public Accounts.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Appointments to State Boards (6 Nov 2014)

Seán Fleming: Will NTMA be exempt from all of this?

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Appointments to State Boards (6 Nov 2014)

Seán Fleming: 4. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he will provide a legislative basis for the future appointment of members to the boards of State bodies, including commercial and non-commercial semi-State organisations; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42278/14]

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Appointments to State Boards (6 Nov 2014)

Seán Fleming: On 30 September the Minister issued a press release announcing a revised model for ministerial appointments to State boards. If he is sincere about this, will he provide a legislative basis for the appointments of members to State boards, including commercial and non-commercial semi-State organisations, and not do this merely by way of a press release?

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Appointments to State Boards (6 Nov 2014)

Seán Fleming: I thank the Minister. I note that he commenced his reply by talking about guidelines, but at its conclusion, he stated he had an open mind on whether it required legislation. He will have this opportunity shortly, as I intend to publish legislation to put his press release and the matters about which he spoke on a guideline basis on a statutory footing. Consequently, I hope he will support...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Appointments to State Boards (6 Nov 2014)

Seán Fleming: On the new lottery regulator whom the Minister appointed on the eve of the by-election which was a day on which much publicity would not have been generated, I understand up to that date and pending this appointment, the Minister was the regulator.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Appointments to State Boards (6 Nov 2014)

Seán Fleming: As regulator, the Minister handed over to the new man and issued a press release. I totally accept that the Minister was not involved in the selection process, but he did have a role in announcing the appointment.