Results 3,861-3,880 of 26,766 for speaker:David Cullinane

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Teaching Qualifications (18 Jan 2023)

David Cullinane: 776. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will address a matter raised in correspondence (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [1660/23]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Gender Recognition (18 Jan 2023)

David Cullinane: 1218. To ask the Minister for Health if he will conduct an independent review of the national gender service and of related healthcare capacity in the State to unwind the reliance on outsourcing to gender health services in Britain; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [63466/22]

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Challenges Facing Emergency Departments in Public Hospitals: HSE (17 Jan 2023)

David Cullinane: All the warning signs were there well before December and January hit. In fact, Mr. Mulvany and his colleagues appeared before this committee during a very lengthy discussion on the winter plan. At that hearing, we told them that the winter plan was insufficient. Mr. Mulvany and his officials told us that many of the objectives in the plan would not be met because the staff simply could...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Challenges Facing Emergency Departments in Public Hospitals: HSE (17 Jan 2023)

David Cullinane: Here is the reality, however. I have listened carefully to what Mr. Mulvany has had to say for the past couple of minutes. It is my view that there was a lack of leadership, political leadership and leadership within the HSE. It is not just my view. Phil Ní Sheaghdha from the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, IMNO, said, "We know that there is an inability to act fast enough,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Challenges Facing Emergency Departments in Public Hospitals: HSE (17 Jan 2023)

David Cullinane: Mr. Mulvany should give the full context about beds. We are only putting back in beds that were taken out. The capacity review actually talked about the 5,000 beds that would be needed if the reforms in healthcare are not delivered, which they have not been. We are well behind all of those targets.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Challenges Facing Emergency Departments in Public Hospitals: HSE (17 Jan 2023)

David Cullinane: We have not heard an answer.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Challenges Facing Emergency Departments in Public Hospitals: HSE (17 Jan 2023)

David Cullinane: I want to make a quick point on immunocompromised people. For many of them, March 2020 is still their lived reality. We need to look at a combination of therapeutic tools in order that we can support them. There are ongoing issues in the context of antiviral medications, medicines and so on. This is important because while the rest of us can get back to some level of normality, that is...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Challenges Facing Emergency Departments in Public Hospitals: HSE (17 Jan 2023)

David Cullinane: I am asking about the group itself.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Challenges Facing Emergency Departments in Public Hospitals: HSE (17 Jan 2023)

David Cullinane: With respect, that is different to an entity, forum, task force, or whatever one wants to call it, that includes representatives of staff, including consultants, doctors, nurses, healthcare assistants, radiographers and others who work on the front line of healthcare, on the one hand, and patient advocacy groups on the other. We have paid lip service to the emergency department task force in...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Challenges Facing Emergency Departments in Public Hospitals: HSE (17 Jan 2023)

David Cullinane: Does the winter plan need to be signed off by the HSE board?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Challenges Facing Emergency Departments in Public Hospitals: HSE (17 Jan 2023)

David Cullinane: Should it be signed off by the board? Was the board involved in any decision-making around the plan? Was it consulted?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Challenges Facing Emergency Departments in Public Hospitals: HSE (17 Jan 2023)

David Cullinane: Has the board been briefed by the executive management team since 22 December?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Challenges Facing Emergency Departments in Public Hospitals: HSE (17 Jan 2023)

David Cullinane: Okay. More of that needs to happen. In my remaining time, I wish to ask a number of questions about beds. I do not believe beds are the only solution to the problem.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Challenges Facing Emergency Departments in Public Hospitals: HSE (17 Jan 2023)

David Cullinane: They are important and we need more beds. However, we also need surgical theatre capacity, more staff, diagnostic capacity, more community infrastructure, more GPs and more out-of-hours services. Many ingredients are required to solve or address the problems in emergency departments. There is demand for those services. I accepted earlier that the surge in demand is coming from the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Challenges Facing Emergency Departments in Public Hospitals: HSE (17 Jan 2023)

David Cullinane: I track these figures all the time. It is difficult to get answers from the HSE in respect of beds. Journalists tell me they have the same problem.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Challenges Facing Emergency Departments in Public Hospitals: HSE (17 Jan 2023)

David Cullinane: It is also true of waiting lists. A different response is supplied every time a question is tabled. Of those 1,228 beds, I understand that 1,147 were funded under budget 2021. There were an additional 71 beds funded for the 2021 national-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Challenges Facing Emergency Departments in Public Hospitals: HSE (17 Jan 2023)

David Cullinane: That is how we get to that figure of 1,228. How many were additional beds were funded last year? How many will be funded this year? I am asking about beds that are not included in that total of 1,228. Those figures go back to October 2020 for budget 2021.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Challenges Facing Emergency Departments in Public Hospitals: HSE (17 Jan 2023)

David Cullinane: I am asking how many beds have been funded beyond that total.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Challenges Facing Emergency Departments in Public Hospitals: HSE (17 Jan 2023)

David Cullinane: That is not the case.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Challenges Facing Emergency Departments in Public Hospitals: HSE (17 Jan 2023)

David Cullinane: Mr. Mulvany has answered the question for me. The announcement in October 2020 of the budget for 2021 included 1,146 beds. An additional ten, to which he referred, were repurposed from somewhere else. Another 71 beds were included in the service plan for 2021. No additional beds have been funded since then. He is talking about beds that must be delivered and that were not delivered at...