Results 27,821-27,840 of 49,836 for speaker:Stephen Donnelly

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Implementation of Sláintecare: Discussion (6 Oct 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Deputy. Removing private care from our public hospitals is absolutely essential. We are in the middle of negotiations with regard to a public-only contract. I cannot get into the detail of that, obviously, because the negotiations are ongoing. The policy goal, however, is that public patients are treated in public hospitals and that is it. It is very important. To address...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Implementation of Sláintecare: Discussion (6 Oct 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Senator very much for his kind comments on the vaccine programme and other aspects of reform. I am bringing a memo to Government tomorrow. The Senator will appreciate that I cannot discuss the details of that. What I can say, though, is that I fully acknowledge there is a need for more inpatient beds in Galway. The capacity in Galway needs to be increased. A very ambitious...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Implementation of Sláintecare: Discussion (6 Oct 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: We are committed. The Senator's analysis of it not being in the NDP is correct. That absolutely does not mean it will not proceed. Not every project is listed in the plan nor could it be. I am very aware of the need for the facilities in Galway. The Senator has raised many issues around planning permission. As he will be aware, it is a multi-stage process which must be gone through. I...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Implementation of Sláintecare: Discussion (6 Oct 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: I understand the premise of the Senator's question and it is a very fair one. We are tasking the centre with reducing its authority or its executive bandwidth, so whether that is a direct conflict is a very reasonable question. Regardless of whether there is a conflict, when embarking on a programme of reform and organisational redesign of this scale the only people who can lead it are the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Implementation of Sláintecare: Discussion (6 Oct 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: It is absolutely being taken on board. In terms of operational principles for regionalisation, it is exactly what we need to do. I passionately believe that the only way we will get the level of performance and change we need, on behalf of patients, is to empower our front-line workers to do the job they know how to do. I will give a very quick example of where it goes wrong and what we...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Implementation of Sláintecare: Discussion (6 Oct 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: Ehealth is an area in which we are very far behind internationally. I believe Ireland is a laggard in e-health. We have invested a significant amount this year, but in fairness to those leading on that strategy, we got hit with the cyberattack and the extent of the damage that the cyberattack caused probably is not fully understood. It caused absolute chaos in the system. The very people...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Implementation of Sláintecare: Discussion (6 Oct 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: I have spoken with both Ms Magahy on several occasions and Professor Keane. Ms Magahy and Professor Keane are serious individuals with a lot of experience. I very much regret their resignations. I would have liked if the issues had been flagged earlier, and perhaps we could have proceeded differently. However, the situation is as we find it. In terms of Ms Magahy, as Mr. Watt has said,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Implementation of Sláintecare: Discussion (6 Oct 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: First, the 60-bed unit was critical but not enough. That is part of the issue. We launched an ambitious winter plan last year. There was only around a 12% reduction in attendances, but there was a 60% reduction in the number of those on trolleys. The trolley numbers were the lowest since the records were first collected, I believe, in 2013. Therefore, it worked well. There were some...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Implementation of Sláintecare: Discussion (6 Oct 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: We are doing everything we can to that end. I very much share the Senator's concern. We will allocate home care hours, staff, beds, diagnostics, frailty intervention teams and much more. However, he is correct to point out that the system is under a lot of pressure. What we are seeing in Limerick and other areas is people coming in who may be sicker than normal, and who, because of the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Implementation of Sláintecare: Discussion (6 Oct 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: The Senator will appreciate that, if I were to give any commitment ahead of the budget, I would have the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform on the phone to me explaining how things were.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Implementation of Sláintecare: Discussion (6 Oct 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: I will have to leave all of the detail of the budget until budget day. The Senator has advocated for this service previously. He and I have spoken about it in the Seanad. It is something that we are examining closely.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Implementation of Sláintecare: Discussion (6 Oct 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: Regarding Professor Keane, no. He and I were at a SIAC meeting. When I took office, I met SIAC to thank its members for their work. I am open to correction if I have this wrong, as I am going from memory, but the next communication I had was the resignation letter. Ms Magahy and I worked approximately four offices away from each other. We worked on many issues together. We had great...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Implementation of Sláintecare: Discussion (6 Oct 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: Correct.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Implementation of Sláintecare: Discussion (6 Oct 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: Not to the best of my knowledge. I do not recall any such request. Maybe a request was made that came through the office and was not escalated to me, so I cannot categorically say "No", but I can say that I am not aware of any such request.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Implementation of Sláintecare: Discussion (6 Oct 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: No, not in terms of resignation. As I said, though, Ms Magahy and I are colleagues. We have worked closely together over the past year and a half on any number of important issues. I have no doubt that she would have shared frustrations with me and I would have shared frustrations with her. As Mr. Watt mentioned, debate, teasing matters out and expressing our frustrations with things that...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Implementation of Sláintecare: Discussion (6 Oct 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: I was really disappointed. They both added a great deal of value. Professor Keane chaired an advisory group that reported to Ms Magahy and Ms Magahy led on the electives. I asked her to lead on the waiting list plan, where she did excellent work. She led on the 112 projects, including Healthy Ireland. Recently, she and I had an exciting meeting about something we will launch after the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Implementation of Sláintecare: Discussion (6 Oct 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: No. I have no role in that relationship at all.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Implementation of Sláintecare: Discussion (6 Oct 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: I believe they met ten times over three years.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Implementation of Sláintecare: Discussion (6 Oct 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: No. The council members were informed in writing. There may well have been private conversations and phone calls. I know that there was not a further meeting of the group where Ms Magahy or Professor Keane attended, but they may have spoken privately to council members.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Implementation of Sláintecare: Discussion (6 Oct 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: No.