Results 34,381-34,400 of 49,836 for speaker:Stephen Donnelly

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Covid-19 Health Related Issues: Update (2 Mar 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Chairman and Deputy Cullinane. Between us all, we could not overstate the challenge in terms of the waiting lists, the unmet care and the missed care. The challenges we face are very significant. We are responding in various ways but, obviously, within a very challenging Covid context. The first place to look is the national service plan, which is now up online. We have...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Covid-19 Health Related Issues: Update (2 Mar 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Deputy for his kind words. Is it the end of the NIAC review? Absolutely not. NIAC is reviewing on a weekly basis and on a daily basis. We are learning new things all the time, new studies are being published and new decisions are being made. For example, Professor Butler, who is the chair of NIAC, was referencing with me at a session recently a new study from NHS Scotland....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Covid-19 Health Related Issues: Update (2 Mar 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: As to prioritisation, what it has concluded recently, which we published, was, if one likes, a clinical prioritisation, looking at those with underlying conditions and age cohorts, and it did some very detailed work in terms of prioritising according to vulnerability. What it is now looking at is the next and very large grouping, which is key workers, for example, family carers. Many people...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Covid-19 Health Related Issues: Update (2 Mar 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: Yes, that is a much more succinct answer.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Covid-19 Health Related Issues: Update (2 Mar 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: The Deputy is looking for a written reply on that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Covid-19 Health Related Issues: Update (2 Mar 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: I will get the Deputy a written reply.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Covid-19 Health Related Issues: Update (2 Mar 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: That is correct. The latest briefing I have from the HSE is that a large majority of those aged 85 and older will have received their first vaccination by the end of this week. There will be some who are housebound for whom individual solutions are being put in place. Some who are housebound have already been vaccinated and in some cases, I understand, GPs will be calling to houses and the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Covid-19 Health Related Issues: Update (2 Mar 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: It was an operational decision taken, I believe, between the HSE and the Irish Medical Organisation, IMO, that, at least for now, the vaccinations should be done in a clinical setting.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Covid-19 Health Related Issues: Update (2 Mar 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: It is a big question, and one that has occupied us all. There is a lot of work going on. The development board, I believe, very successfully resisted a lot of claims from the contractor. I do not have the numbers with me but, as I understand it, the amounts awarded by the appeals mechanism or mediation mechanism as part of the contract are very small relative to the awards being made. In...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Covid-19 Health Related Issues: Update (2 Mar 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: I will certainly ask the task force to look at that. I do not know whether we could produce the delivery figures daily. The Deputy and others asked for the figures for daily doses administered, which we are providing in the data hub and on the app. I believe all members of the committee and all Members of the Oireachtas are getting a daily briefing. I can certainly take up the Deputy's...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Covid-19 Health Related Issues: Update (2 Mar 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: The short answer is "Yes". Many important elements have been agreed for this year, one of which is the very important framework for safe staffing for nurses, as referenced by Deputy Shortall. There were huge benefits on the pilot sites where it was done. I have told the HSE that the Government wants staffing and the increase in nursing levels to be done in line with the safe staffing...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Covid-19 Health Related Issues: Update (2 Mar 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: Are we talking specifically about community-based care, social care and staffing across community-based care?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Covid-19 Health Related Issues: Update (2 Mar 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: In fairness to the HSE there has been action. Some of that would have been taken under the previous Government. The chronic disease management agreement with the GPs was put in place by the previous Government. It was activated through this year and further ramped up in the winter plan. It is also being further ramped up in the national service plan.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Covid-19 Health Related Issues: Update (2 Mar 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: I will ask a member of the Sláintecare team to get back to the Deputy with a detailed note on that. Various programmes and pilots are being rolled out and looked at this year.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Covid-19 Health Related Issues: Update (2 Mar 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: On the Deputy's previous comment, we will have to agree to disagree. I know from the Sláintecare team and some of the testimony the team gave to the committee that its view is that this budget is very much a Sláintecare budget. They are very excited by Sláintecare and spoke very highly of it. Obviously, the Deputy and I just have different views on that, which is fine. I...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Covid-19 Health Related Issues: Update (2 Mar 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: I asked NPHET to come back with a formal view on it for exactly the reasons laid out by the Deputy. NPHET has published a paper on it, which I will ask the Department to send on to the committee. My non-medical synopsis of the paper is that it was very positive about vitamin D generally in boosting the immune system. I may be wrong on this, but, from memory, I believe its conclusion was...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Covid-19 Health Related Issues: Update (2 Mar 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: That does not sound right to me at all. I will raise it directly with the HSE. We need as many vaccinators as possible. The last time I looked at the figures, I believe approximately 7,700 vaccinators had been trained. The number is probably higher now. I received the report some time ago. However, it includes GPs, pharmacists and the vaccination teams we have in place. I would like...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Covid-19 Health Related Issues: Update (2 Mar 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: If the Deputy does not mind, I prefer not to make definitive statements on the process right now. There may be reasons particular things must be followed. I will certainly ask the HSE to take a look at that, however. It sounds like a lot.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Covid-19 Health Related Issues: Update (2 Mar 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: If anyone in any of the cohorts being done now or that will be done next, which are the high-risk, very high-risk and underlying condition categories, has any worry about not being contacted by a GP, they or a family member can make a telephone call to 185 024 1850. As the Deputy quite rightly said, not everyone has a GP and not everyone is on a list. I know in my constituency in Wicklow,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Covid-19 Health Related Issues: Update (2 Mar 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Deputy. We are following the process as part of the EU. Our regulator is the European Medicines Agency, EMA. I can tell the Deputy from an update I received yesterday that the EMA is looking at some of these other vaccines, which are not the ones we have all been talking about. That is happening. We actually have quite a lot ourselves, however. For example, the three of...