Results 4,641-4,660 of 49,836 for speaker:Stephen Donnelly

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Cancer Services (2 May 2024)

Stephen Donnelly: I will ask the Department to revert to Deputies Bruton and Staunton. I want to mention good progress in two other areas. Two new types of testing were introduced last year for specific treatments. The first was homologous recombination deficiency testing for treatment of ovarian cancer. The second test is for NTRK gene fusions, which can lead to cancers of the brain, head, neck, thyroid,...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Health Services Staff (2 May 2024)

Stephen Donnelly: As the Deputy said, I have met the group in question, which is very active and effective in Donegal. I will highlight some of the important progress that our healthcare workers in Letterkenny University Hospital, LUH, have achieved. It really is very encouraging to see. In the last while, they have reduced the number of patients awaiting first appointment by two thirds, which is fantastic....

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Dental Services (2 May 2024)

Stephen Donnelly: I fully take on board what the Deputy said. It is very worrying for these children and their parents. Good progress is being made. We have to go further. I am happy to ask my Department to engage with the HSE and revert to the Deputy along with Deputy Cullinane, who tabled the question, with a note relating to category five and give them more detail for Louth and Meath, the counties...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Dental Services (2 May 2024)

Stephen Donnelly: The Deputy referred to two cases. If he send me the details, I will ask the HSE to take a look and revert to him directly.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Medical Aids and Appliances (2 May 2024)

Stephen Donnelly: What happened here was that the HSE published national procedures without discussing the issue with me and without proper consultation with the Department. I got a phone call from a fantastic activist who is also a Fianna Fáil councillor, Teresa Costello, asking me what in the name of God I was doing removing supports from women. I said that under no circumstances were any supports...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Medical Aids and Appliances (2 May 2024)

Stephen Donnelly: Regarding the proposal that was put together, the HSE did consult various stakeholders, including included service users, nurses, health and social care professionals and the Irish Cancer Society. I have also met fitters and suppliers and they asked that their views be considered, which is fine. Of course, we should listen to them and I am sure they will have something to add....

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Dental Services (2 May 2024)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Deputy for her ongoing representations, made on behalf of the good people of Carlow, on the health services they deserve. I will provide some good news on the orthodontic lists. For people in Carlow, rather than getting the service in Carlow, the priority is getting the service for these children. I will report to the Deputy and the House some very good news. Over the last...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Dental Services (2 May 2024)

Stephen Donnelly: There might be some competition with Kilkenny but I take the Deputy's point. She can rest assured that this Government will continue to invest in health services for the people of Carlow. I was delighted to be able to visit, with Deputy Murnane O'Connor, the upgraded ambulance base in Carlow in the last few days. We now want to continue with that progress of the permanent ambulance base in...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Dental Services (2 May 2024)

Stephen Donnelly: We are currently drafting the implementation plan for the next three years of the national oral health policy. There will be a regional view but with something as specialist as orthodontic care, the priority is making sure children get the care. We all want care provided as close to us as possible and we must always strive to do that. While orthodontic treatment is, hopefully, one of a...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Dental Services (2 May 2024)

Stephen Donnelly: I have just had a back-and-forth discussion on this issue with Deputy Murnane O'Connor. Good progress is being made. I know there are still parents who are anxiously waiting. I fully accept that and we must get to all of these children. It is important to note that in the lifetime of this Government, the number of children waiting has fallen by 44%. That is great to see. In the Dublin...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Health Services Staff (2 May 2024)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank Deputies Collins and Kenny. This is a serious issue and I fully accept the Deputies' representations. I absolutely take Deputy Collins's point. We cannot have children not getting these developmental checks, we cannot have parents who are worried and we certainly cannot have the kinds of delays the Deputy has referenced. I will commit to taking this up at a senior level within the...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Health Services Staff (2 May 2024)

Stephen Donnelly: I agree that it is not good enough. We need a resolution to this and we need it more quickly than one is now coming about. I will raise it with the HSE and come back to the Deputies with a note. If they would like, I will set up a meeting with HSE officials so that they can explain exactly where we are. Other parts of the country are not experiencing this difficulty. Some might be but...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Health Services Staff (2 May 2024)

Stephen Donnelly: I am not proposing that they ask GPs to do the developmental checks. What I mean is that, if parents see something with their child that they are concerned about, they should go to the GP. I am not asking the GPs to replace the public health nurses in providing the general checks.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Hospital Services (2 May 2024)

Stephen Donnelly: I do not disagree with any of that. The families are angry and they have every right to be angry. There is no defending what has happened. We have to fix it and fix it permanently. That is what this dedicated spinal unit is going to do. The team in CHI are meeting other international providers this week. I have told them that as far as I am concerned they have full authority to go and...

Teachtaireacht ón Seanad - Message from Seanad (2 May 2024)

Stephen Donnelly: Great news, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Health Services Staff (2 May 2024)

Stephen Donnelly: I propose to take Questions Nos. 5 and 22 together. I thank Deputies Kenny and Collins for raising this matter. On the back of their questions I engaged with my officials and the HSE on this. As per the questions, they are accepting there are shortages affecting the child development checks in Dublin south and Dublin west. The public health nurse service is experiencing significant...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Hospital Services (2 May 2024)

Stephen Donnelly: I agree. The reconfiguration was not done right at all and the measures that the Government is putting in place should have been put in place before the reconfiguration happened. That is my view. What I can stand over is what the Government is doing. The Government has added a level of capacity into Limerick that has never been done before and there is no hospital in the country that has...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Hospital Services (2 May 2024)

Stephen Donnelly: Sorry, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Hospital Services (2 May 2024)

Stephen Donnelly: Let us bear in mind that when I say we have added more staff, we have increased the staff by more than 40%. This is not a few more staff. An additional 433 nurses, for example, are working in the hospital. It has been a vast increase. In terms of a model 3 hospital, we should never rule anything out. The chief executive and I have asked all six of the regional executive officers, now...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Hospital Services (2 May 2024)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Deputy for the question. I acknowledge that the waiting lists for these children are simply too long and that while more capacity is being is being added and more surgeries are being done, there are a number of children for whom the wait is simply unacceptable. In 2022, I asked Children's Health Ireland to come up with a comprehensive plan that would mean that of the children...