Results 40,721-40,740 of 49,836 for speaker:Stephen Donnelly

Seanad: Health (General Practitioner Service and Alteration of Criteria for Eligibility) Bill 2020: Second Stage (24 Jul 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: ---- is to continue to expand that. I thank Members for their support for the Bill and what it is trying to do. I have taken a lot of notes and I apologise in advance as inevitably, I will not be able to speak to all the points raised. Some were local. Myself or the team will revert to Senators with updates. Regarding Covid, public health officials have been increasingly worried over...

Health (General Practitioner Service and Alteration of Criteria for Eligibility) Bill 2020: Committee and Remaining Stages (23 Jul 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Deputies for the questions. They are exactly the right questions. I made my position on this very clear in the past; general practice does not have enough capacity. The contract was signed more than 40 years ago and a new one is urgently needed. Some very good work was done to augment the existing contract, including moves towards the management of chronic disease in the...

Health (General Practitioner Service and Alteration of Criteria for Eligibility) Bill 2020: Committee and Remaining Stages (23 Jul 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: Deputy Cullinane and I are in danger of vigorously agreeing with each other. I agree with him. He says that we propose to increase the workload without increasing capacity. We do not. I am saying the opposite of that. That is the reason for the phased approach. There are several steps to this. We in this House need to create the legal framework for it, and that is what we are doing...

Health (General Practitioner Service and Alteration of Criteria for Eligibility) Bill 2020: Committee and Remaining Stages (23 Jul 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: I agree with the Deputies. We are looking to put this together as quickly as possible. What I wanted to clarify for the House is the factual position. This measure was contingent upon savings. Those savings have not materialised. As we all know, the opposite is the case and the healthcare system is looking for significantly more cash to deal with the Covid pandemic. For the information...

Health (General Practitioner Service and Alteration of Criteria for Eligibility) Bill 2020: Committee and Remaining Stages (23 Jul 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: Section 2 concerns the income limits for those over 70 who apply for the medical card. I will use this opportunity to respond to Deputy Cullinane and the other Deputies who have, understandably, asked questions about timing. It is a question many people are asking. I will answer a similar question on GP eligibility when we get to that section, seeing as we are strictly adhering to sections...

Health (General Practitioner Service and Alteration of Criteria for Eligibility) Bill 2020: Committee and Remaining Stages (23 Jul 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: That is not what I said.

Health (General Practitioner Service and Alteration of Criteria for Eligibility) Bill 2020: Second Stage (Resumed) (23 Jul 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank all of the Deputies for their contributions, many of which were thoughtful and detailed in terms of the specific legislation before us and the two measures it contains. There has been a wider constructive debate around healthcare as well. It is a conversation we need to keep going. I have taken pages of notes. We will find more opportunities for continuing that conversation,...

Health (General Practitioner Service and Alteration of Criteria for Eligibility) Bill 2020: Order for Second Stage (23 Jul 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: Before I move the Order for Second Stage, with the permission of the Acting Chairman, Deputy Durkan, I would like to give an update on where we are in terms of Covid. There is some good news. On the one hand, the number of cases per week has been rising, which is something we have all been watching. In the past four weeks, the number of cases went from 61 cases in a week to 93 cases, to...

Health (General Practitioner Service and Alteration of Criteria for Eligibility) Bill 2020: Order for Second Stage (23 Jul 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: I move: "That Second Stage be taken now."

Health (General Practitioner Service and Alteration of Criteria for Eligibility) Bill 2020: Second Stage (23 Jul 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." It is my pleasure to introduce the Health (General Practitioner Service and Alteration of Criteria for Eligibility) Bill 2020 to the Dáil. Today marks another important step in working towards achieving the Sláintecare principle of universal access to care at low cost or no cost. This Bill provides for two key measures that...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Departmental Correspondence (23 Jul 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: As this is a matter relating to an application for registration with CORU, it has been referred to CORU for attention and direct reply to the Deputy.

Written Answers — Department of Health: Drugs Payment Scheme (23 Jul 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: The HSE has statutory responsibility for medicine pricing and reimbursement decisions, in accordance with the Health (Pricing and Supply of Medical Goods) Act 2013. On 11 June 2019, the HSE Leadership Team approved access to the drug Nusinersen (Spinraza) for children with Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) Type I, II or III on an exceptional and individualised basis. The HSE decision process...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Public Sector Pensions (23 Jul 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: The Public Service Superannuation (Age of Retirement) Act 2018 which came into effect on 26 December 2018 provides for an increase in the compulsory retirement age of most public servants recruited prior to 1 April 2004, from age 65 to age 70. Under the Act, any relevant public servant as defined in Section 2 of the Act who had not already reached his/her compulsory retirement age before 26...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Healthcare Infrastructure Provision (23 Jul 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: The Health Service Executive is responsible for the management of the public healthcare property estate. With regard to the HSE owned health centre at Spital Street, Cloyne, the HSE has advised that the property is currently unoccupied as it requires significant upgrade works in order to make the building habitable. The HSE does accommodate First Responder Training in the St Raphael’s...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Healthcare Infrastructure Provision (23 Jul 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: As the Health Service Executive is responsible for the management of the public healthcare property estate, I have asked the HSE to respond directly to you in relation to this matter.

Written Answers — Department of Health: Covid-19 Pandemic (23 Jul 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: At present, the government advises against non-essential travel overseas. Passengers arriving to Ireland from overseas are legally required to complete a COVID-19 Passenger Locator Form. The information provided on the form may be used to assist with contact tracing in the event that there is a suspected or confirmed case on board a flight or ferry. Passengers arriving to Ireland are advised...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Covid-19 Pandemic (23 Jul 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: As this is an operational matter I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond directly to the Deputy as soon as possible.

Written Answers — Department of Health: Covid-19 Pandemic (23 Jul 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: The Department of Health is working with the HSE to increase acute capacity in hospitals throughout the country. In the context of the current COVID-19 Pandemic response, the HSE advised on 22 June 2020 that an additional 324 acute beds have opened since March, bringing the current total of acute beds in the system to 11,597 excluding critical care capacity. It should be noted that this is...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Covid-19 Pandemic (23 Jul 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: I propose to take Questions Nos. 209 and 210 together. The Programme for Government, Our Shared Future, commits to continuing investment in our health care services in line with the recommendations of the Health Service Capacity Review and the commitments in Project Ireland 2040. The Capacity Review found that the net requirement, in a reform scenario, is for an additional 2,590 hospital...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Hospital Services (23 Jul 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: The average daily running cost of a hospital bed includes clinical staffing, theatres, laboratories, non-clinical staffing and cleaning, maintenance and other running costs. The cost includes critical care and ward beds but they are not separately identifiable. The fully absorbed cost, includes treatment and care costs (such as diagnostics and theatres) as well as the running costs such as...