Results 43,881-43,900 of 49,836 for speaker:Stephen Donnelly

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: National Children's Hospital: Discussion (Resumed) (29 Jan 2019)

Stephen Donnelly: No, I am okay. My first question is as follows. When the Minister found out that the cost had escalated to €1.7 billion, why did he not instruct his officials, the board or both to design some of the cost back out, given that it was never intended to spend anything like that amount of money?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: National Children's Hospital: Discussion (Resumed) (29 Jan 2019)

Stephen Donnelly: I am sorry; he was Minister for Social Protection.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: National Children's Hospital: Discussion (Resumed) (29 Jan 2019)

Stephen Donnelly: It is not.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: National Children's Hospital: Discussion (Resumed) (29 Jan 2019)

Stephen Donnelly: The Minister is answering a different question.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: National Children's Hospital: Discussion (Resumed) (29 Jan 2019)

Stephen Donnelly: My point is that whether the figure is €500 million or €1 billion, it is hundreds of millions over what was originally designed for the new children's hospital and that there will be no extra operating theatres and beds. It is not relative to what is happening today but to what we were meant to get for €650 million.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: National Children's Hospital: Discussion (Resumed) (29 Jan 2019)

Stephen Donnelly: To be clear, no one on this committee has suggested that once in the past three weeks.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: National Children's Hospital: Discussion (Resumed) (29 Jan 2019)

Stephen Donnelly: I apologise for talking over the Minister but I am halfway through my time and he has not yet answered my question. When he found out about the figure of €1.7 billion, why did he not instruct them to reverse out some of those costs?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: National Children's Hospital: Discussion (Resumed) (29 Jan 2019)

Stephen Donnelly: The Minister said that he looked at the figure of €1.73 billion and concluded that it was not worth trying to reverse out some of those costs. Is this still the Government's position? Is it still proceeding with the figure of €1.73 billion? Is it part of the terms of reference of the PwC report to try to de-escalate the costs that have spiralled?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: National Children's Hospital: Discussion (Resumed) (29 Jan 2019)

Stephen Donnelly: I would prefer-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: National Children's Hospital: Discussion (Resumed) (29 Jan 2019)

Stephen Donnelly: I would prefer to keep it with the Minister if that is okay. I want to talk about accountability because what we have heard here over the past few weeks has shocked me and many people. At €1.7 billion, the cost per bed will be more than twice as much as the cost per bed of the most expensive hospitals built anywhere in the world. Regardless of whether we use the Minister's figure of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: National Children's Hospital: Discussion (Resumed) (29 Jan 2019)

Stephen Donnelly: With respect, the Minister has known about this since August. He must have a view.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: National Children's Hospital: Discussion (Resumed) (29 Jan 2019)

Stephen Donnelly: The Minister has in the past, in light of healthcare scandals, expressed no confidence in, for example, healthcare professionals. To me and to many people around Ireland it is an absolute scandal what has happened with taxpayers' money that needs to be deployed for healthcare or for children's healthcare. Does the Minister at this point have confidence in the development board and has he...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: National Children's Hospital: Discussion (Resumed) (29 Jan 2019)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Minister.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: National Children's Hospital: Discussion (Resumed) (29 Jan 2019)

Stephen Donnelly: I was hoping for something else from the Minister and Mr. Breslin today. We have heard from the board, the Department and the HSE. I have asked all of them whether they believed that what has happened is a catastrophic failure of management. All of them have said "no". They stated that they would do things exactly the same and that they do not consider the financial side of this project...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: National Children's Hospital: Discussion (Resumed) (29 Jan 2019)

Stephen Donnelly: -----and it is super high spec. I understand Chair. At €1.6 million per bed, the national children's hospital, building at the same cost as the most expensive hospital ever built with a super high spec, would be €750 million. The costs can be triangulated in all sorts of ways and we still keep coming back to a figure of about €1 billion. Turning to my questions, the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: National Children's Hospital: Discussion (Resumed) (29 Jan 2019)

Stephen Donnelly: Will the Minister confirm whether a substantive effort is being made to look at redesigning some of these massive cost overruns out of the hospital so that cost can be deployed in other areas?

Written Answers — Department of Health: Hospitals Discharges (24 Jan 2019)

Stephen Donnelly: 146. To ask the Minister for Health the number of bed days lost through delayed discharges in 2018 for each public voluntary hospital in tabular form. [3433/19]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Hospital Beds Data (24 Jan 2019)

Stephen Donnelly: 147. To ask the Minister for Health the number of beds and wards in all public and voluntary acute hospitals that were closed on 17 January 2019 or the latest date for which data for validated bed closures at hospital and ward level are available in tabular form. [3434/19]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Emergency Services Data (24 Jan 2019)

Stephen Donnelly: 148. To ask the Minister for Health the percentage of clinical status 1 ECHO incidents responded to by a first responder in seven minutes and 59 seconds or less; and the percentage of clinical status 1 DELTA incidents responded to by a patient carrying vehicle in seven minutes and 59 seconds or less for each ambulance station by month in the year to the end of December 2018 or the latest date...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Emergency Departments Data (24 Jan 2019)

Stephen Donnelly: 149. To ask the Minister for Health the number of patients aged 75 years of age or over that experienced an emergency department wait time more than 24 hours in 2018; and the hospitals in which the wait occurred. [3436/19]