Results 34,401-34,420 of 49,836 for speaker:Stephen Donnelly

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

Stephen Donnelly: I would agree with the Deputy on the objective. This has to be a global vaccination programme. The reality right now is that the developed or richer world is buying up the global stock, and there is no question about that. Even if some of the stock was available for some other parts of the world very serious supports will need to be put in place in terms of healthcare supports, logistics,...

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

Stephen Donnelly: I acknowledge the Deputy's ongoing work on this matter. As he will be well aware, there are two avenues to access these particular treatments. One is the ministerial licence scheme, which been active to date. Since 2016, when the scheme was brought in, 144 licences have been approved for 55 separate patients. What the Deputy and I have focused on is the medicinal cannabis access...

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

Stephen Donnelly: To the Senator's initial point, it is the good news versus the challenges we face. The good news is the forecast that by the end of this week we will have administered more than 500,000 vaccine doses. Great credit goes to our vaccination teams across the country, as well as to the GPs, the practice nurses, the Defence Forces and so on. There have been so many people involved and it has...

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

Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Senator. On her first question, I will get her a detailed response. It sounds like a contractual issue. If I had to hazard a guess, which I am loath to do, I imagine it would be to do with pay that is specifically about the clinical placement. However, I will get a detailed response from the Department as to why that would be. With regard to a bursary, the Senator referenced...

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

Stephen Donnelly: I apologise for talking across the Senator. We want the students to stay. If they are leaving en masse, we need to understand why. If a student in Ireland is being paid significantly more than a student in England, Scotland or Wales while doing a degree at €17,400 versus €,10,000, according to the figures I have been given, it stands to reason that pay is not why they are...

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

Stephen Donnelly: I will finish on this. I am sorry as I do not mean to be taking up the Senator's time. In our very productive debate in the Seanad recently on her Bill, one of the questions I asked the Department was whether it could find for me any country in the world that paid more to students during their nursing and midwifery degrees than Ireland according to an arrangement not based on an...

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

Stephen Donnelly: That is a separate issue. It is also definitely worth considering.

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

Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Senator for that. We are all concerned about it. I am aware that BreastCheck has restarted. I want to make sure that I have the very latest information on the matter so I might revert to her with a written note, if that is acceptable.

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

Stephen Donnelly: Yes, it is.

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

Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Deputy. That is an excellent question. The answer is that the experts do not know yet. The scientific and medical communities around the world are waiting to find out how long the vaccines last. It may differ for each vaccine and it may differ based on the intervals between vaccinations. What I can say is that we have pre-ordered just under 18.5 million doses, as the Deputy...

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

Stephen Donnelly: That is a good question. To an extent, Ireland and the rest of the world will have to wait and see. The strategy right now is to put in place very robust controls around international travel. Even before hotel quarantining is introduced, the measures we have in place will put us at the forefront of the EU. When we introduce hotel quarantining, which will be here very soon as the...

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

Stephen Donnelly: The short answer is that we must await the guidance of the European Medicines Agency, EMA. The process is as follows. The vaccine is under consideration at the moment and we all hope that it is approved. When it is approved, the EMA will issue highly technical guidance to our own experts here. They look at that guidance and provide advice on the best way to use it. For example, with the...

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

Stephen Donnelly: The Senator and other members of the committee have asked for daily numbers to be provided previously. The daily numbers of people who have vaccinated, both first dose and second dose, are now available on the Covid data hub and on the Covid tracker app. On top of that, I requested that a daily briefing go out to each Member of the Oireachtas as to what is happening with the vaccination...

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

Stephen Donnelly: That is an issue that I am very happy to pick up with the task force and the HSE. What I can say is that as of today, we have taken delivery of 520,320 vaccine doses. It is forecast that approximately 500,000 will have been administered by the end of the week.

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

Stephen Donnelly: My understanding is that the meetings of NPHET, which I am told by survivors of NPHET can be marathon sessions that go on for many hours, are by visual communications, VC. The Senator rightly points out, however, that the NPHET briefings with the media are face-to-face. They follow very strict protocols. Very few are allowed in the room. I have been involved in a few of them. There is...

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

Stephen Donnelly: I certainly will take that back. I would agree that we have to be seen to lead by example; there is no question about that.

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

Stephen Donnelly: We must always strive to do better. There has been a good deal of commentary about the communications over the past while. Some would argue that some of it was unfair. Some of it is undoubtedly fair. The public have a right to the very best information quickly and they have a right to clarity also because as the Senator said, people have been through a brutal year. Many people have been...

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

Stephen Donnelly: I do not believe anyone can accurately say right now what will happen in September. If things go according to plan, both in terms of the suppression of the virus and the vaccine roll-out, and what is increasingly positive information about the effectiveness of these vaccines, we would certainly be in a very different and much better place next September. There is no question about that....

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

Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Deputy for his questions. He asked if online and telemedicine is being used and it is. It has been a real silver lining. If necessity is the mother of all invention, telemedicine has come to the fore. Many consultants who would not have used it previously are not only using it now but actively embracing it. It is something that will continue and as distributed technologies,...

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

Stephen Donnelly: They Deputy will be aware that there are two reviews on this. The first is the review by Professor Tom Collins, who has made a series of recommendations to address the period during Covid-19. I have accepted all those recommendations, including the option to backdate the payment to the start of September. There is an ongoing conversation with the representative bodies and unions with the...