Results 4,961-4,980 of 11,702 for speaker:Colm Burke

Written Answers — Department of Health: General Practitioner Services (28 Sep 2022)

Colm Burke: 255. To ask the Minister for Health his plans to increase direct access to echocardiography for general practitioners through community-based ambulatory care hubs, given 80% of private hospitals provide GP direct access yet only 19% of public hospitals do the same; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47459/22]

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Sláintecare Implementation: Discussion (Resumed) (28 Sep 2022)

Colm Burke: I thank the witnesses for attending and for their presentations and the work they are doing in delivering health services. On the development of healthcare in the community, I want to give an example of where it is not working. I have a case of a 79-year-old who was in hospital with Covid for three months. He lives on his own and has impaired vision. Six weeks after coming out of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Sláintecare Implementation: Discussion (Resumed) (28 Sep 2022)

Colm Burke: Would Mr. Reid not accept that six weeks after coming out of hospital there was no call, and this person is residing not that far from a HSE headquarters?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Sláintecare Implementation: Discussion (Resumed) (28 Sep 2022)

Colm Burke: Can we move on to backup support within GP practices? Has there been any discussion on that issue because, in fairness, GPs are at the coalface and are meeting people every day. Given the volume of work that they now have without any additional support, what engagement will there be with the IMO on that issue?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Sláintecare Implementation: Discussion (Resumed) (28 Sep 2022)

Colm Burke: Does that support include the employment of nursing staff?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Sláintecare Implementation: Discussion (Resumed) (28 Sep 2022)

Colm Burke: What kind of timescale are we talking about? One must remember that we have a huge number of GPs retiring in the next five years so we have a challenge from that point of view as well.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Sláintecare Implementation: Discussion (Resumed) (28 Sep 2022)

Colm Burke: Concerning workforce planning, one of the issues I have raised previously relates to people leaving the HSE and the hospital system and exit surveys. Have they been comprehensively introduced in every hospital at this stage to establish the reasons staff are leaving? In some cases, staff have difficulties with the management structure in a particular unit of the hospital, and there are...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Sláintecare Implementation: Discussion (Resumed) (28 Sep 2022)

Colm Burke: Mr. Reid mentioned Mr. O'Dwyer from the South/Southwest Hospital Group. I have to raise the issue of elective hospitals. To retain staff and get a service delivered effectively, elective hospitals are needed. What is the status of the decision on Cork? The submission was made in January to the Department. Here we are almost ten months later and we still do not have a decision on where...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Sláintecare Implementation: Discussion (Resumed) (28 Sep 2022)

Colm Burke: I think I heard that last April as well that we were almost there. We are now ten months later.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Sláintecare Implementation: Discussion (Resumed) (28 Sep 2022)

Colm Burke: What is the timeframe Mr. Watt is setting on that?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Sláintecare Implementation: Discussion (Resumed) (28 Sep 2022)

Colm Burke: Does Mr. Watt accept that we have a problem in the south and south west area? The population of Cork has increased by more than 170,000 over the past 20 years. No additional beds were created in that particular period. Like every other part of the country, we have an ageing population and, therefore, there will be a need for access to hospital services.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Sláintecare Implementation: Discussion (Resumed) (28 Sep 2022)

Colm Burke: To go back to the issue of community care, no matter what kind of community care the HSE can provide, it will not be adequate and a certain number of people will have to be admitted into nursing homes for the care they require. There is a significant gap between what it costs per bed in private and public nursing homes. The latter is, on average, €1,650 per bed per week, while the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Sláintecare Implementation: Discussion (Resumed) (28 Sep 2022)

Colm Burke: What of the issue of the nursing homes?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Sláintecare Implementation: Discussion (Resumed) (28 Sep 2022)

Colm Burke: Would Mr. Watt agree that this decision will have to be taken fast, and not in six months' time? The challenges are there now with the increased costs.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Medical Qualifications (28 Sep 2022)

Colm Burke: 212. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if his Department will give serious consideration to launching a structured graduate programme that would support the 35% of cardiac physiologists who are not trained in echocardiography and bring them to the point of certification; if fees for same will be covered by the State; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47457/22]