Results 4,221-4,240 of 24,567 for speaker:Róisín Shortall

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Long Covid and Monkeypox: Discussion (12 Oct 2022)

Róisín Shortall: What are the current waiting list for those clinics?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Long Covid and Monkeypox: Discussion (12 Oct 2022)

Róisín Shortall: That is the waiting time. How many people are on the waiting list?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Long Covid and Monkeypox: Discussion (12 Oct 2022)

Róisín Shortall: Is there a figure?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Long Covid and Monkeypox: Discussion (12 Oct 2022)

Róisín Shortall: What kind of quantum is it?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Long Covid and Monkeypox: Discussion (12 Oct 2022)

Róisín Shortall: The Mater is not a centre for long Covid any more. The HSE has not selected it.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Long Covid and Monkeypox: Discussion (12 Oct 2022)

Róisín Shortall: Is Dr. Ní Bhriain aware of the business case that has been submitted by Dr. Lambert?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Long Covid and Monkeypox: Discussion (12 Oct 2022)

Róisín Shortall: I completely agree with the Chair. He is absolutely right on this. It is a matter of concern that with a condition that is so new, we are working to guidelines that are 13 months old. I accept what was said on HIQA being commissioned to do a study. There is a vast amount of research that has been done internationally. What is the mechanism for learning from that research and adjusting...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Long Covid and Monkeypox: Discussion (12 Oct 2022)

Róisín Shortall: That is assuming that the right clinicians are working in this area.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Long Covid and Monkeypox: Discussion (12 Oct 2022)

Róisín Shortall: Okay. What is the typical healing period of long Covid for the three main areas of heart, lungs and brain?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Long Covid and Monkeypox: Discussion (12 Oct 2022)

Róisín Shortall: That is not long Covid though, is it? That is acute Covid.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Long Covid and Monkeypox: Discussion (12 Oct 2022)

Róisín Shortall: What does the international evidence tell us about the relative recovery periods from those three different areas?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Long Covid and Monkeypox: Discussion (12 Oct 2022)

Róisín Shortall: There are not good data available.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Long Covid and Monkeypox: Discussion (12 Oct 2022)

Róisín Shortall: Okay. I have ongoing concerns about the approach that has been taken. The other issue, of course, is capacity. If somebody goes to a clinic and that person has a particular, say, heart problem or brain fog or whatever, there is a referral pathway. That may well be the case, but they will join a waiting list to see a neurologist or a cardiologist. Is that not the case?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Long Covid and Monkeypox: Discussion (12 Oct 2022)

Róisín Shortall: Those waiting lists are very long. In theory, there is a referral pathway. However, the reality for many people is that they will be left suffering from a long Covid condition for a very long time because of lack of capacity. Presumably, it kind of three or four months post Covid before somebody goes to or is referred to a clinic.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Long Covid and Monkeypox: Discussion (12 Oct 2022)

Róisín Shortall: However, there is a five-month waiting list to be seen in a clinic.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Long Covid and Monkeypox: Discussion (12 Oct 2022)

Róisín Shortall: That is what concerns me, because that is on top of several weeks, let us say. In the meantime, a person’s life is completely put on hold and there are huge costs involved in that. People are out of work and all of that, apart from the personal distress and health issues. There is a big question about capacity there. I asked Dr. Ní Bhriain earlier about waiting times and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Long Covid and Monkeypox: Discussion (12 Oct 2022)

Róisín Shortall: Perhaps Dr. Ní Bhriain can just tell us what they are.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Long Covid and Monkeypox: Discussion (12 Oct 2022)

Róisín Shortall: Dr. Ní Bhriain told me about the Mater and Connolly. Neither of those have long Covid clinics. I am asking about the six long Covid clinics that have been established.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Long Covid and Monkeypox: Discussion (12 Oct 2022)

Róisín Shortall: Can Dr. Ní Bhriain come back to us with details with the number of people who have been seen in the clinics and the number of people on the waiting lists?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Long Covid and Monkeypox: Discussion (12 Oct 2022)

Róisín Shortall: The indications are that there is a huge issue about lack of capacity. We know that 1.6 million people in Ireland have had Covid. That is just the diagnosed people, so it is presumably an underestimate. Even if the percentage suffering from long Covid is small, we are still talking about very big numbers. I do not have the confidence from what I am hearing today that there is the capacity...