Results 6,341-6,360 of 11,585 for speaker:Colm Burke

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Covid-19 Tests (15 Dec 2021)

Colm Burke: 148. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the reason students at higher education institutions (details supplied), who make up approximately 12% of the higher education student population in Ireland, are to be excluded from the public health free rapid antigen tests initiative; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [62030/21]

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Covid-19 Tests (15 Dec 2021)

Colm Burke: 149. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the reason that students studying on publicly funded Springboard programmes in private higher education institutions will be excluded from the free rapid antigen tests initiative while their fellow students on Springboard programmes in the public higher education institutions will be eligible to receive the tests; and if he will make a...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Covid-19 Tests (15 Dec 2021)

Colm Burke: 150. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if consideration will be given to including students at higher education colleges that are members of an association (details supplied) in the public health free rapid antigen tests initiative in view of the contributions by the students to the Exchequer; if not, if separate funding will be made available to those students for this once off...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Covid-19 Tests (15 Dec 2021)

Colm Burke: 151. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if consideration will be given to the inclusion of students at higher education institutions that are members of an association (details supplied) in the public health free rapid antigen tests initiative in view of these institutions releasing their students to ease the staffing crisis in public primary schools and in early years settings; and...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Covid-19 Tests (15 Dec 2021)

Colm Burke: 152. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the reason students at higher education institutions that are members of an association (details supplied) are to be excluded from the public health free rapid antigen tests given the Exchequer is providing free rapid antigen testing to international and European Union students studying in publicly funded higher education institutions who may...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Health Services Staff (15 Dec 2021)

Colm Burke: 175. To ask the Minister for Health the number of persons employed within the health service, by categories (details supplied), for the year ending 31 December, in each of the years 2014 to 2020 and at 30 October 2021; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [62029/21]

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Ambulance Services: Discussion (15 Dec 2021)

Colm Burke: I thank our guests for their presentation and for all the work they are doing. I am sure they are dealing with very challenging situations on a daily basis. I thank them for the care and service they provide. I want to touch on two issues. One is turnaround times at hospitals. Does the ambulance service sit down and discuss the issues with management? Are the front-line medical people...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Ambulance Services: Discussion (15 Dec 2021)

Colm Burke: Yes. Would Mr. Kenny deal with the issue I raised about the link with hospitals? Is that link purely with management or are the front-line staff in accident and emergency departments such as the nurses and doctors involved in those discussions? I have heard from ambulance personnel that they have a solution but they are not being listened to.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Ambulance Services: Discussion (15 Dec 2021)

Colm Burke: It is all fine engaging with management and ambulance personnel identifying solutions and conveying them to management, but are those solutions being conveyed down the line? Is there a three-way engagement between medical staff, management and the ambulance service? That is the question I am asking.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Ambulance Services: Discussion (15 Dec 2021)

Colm Burke: Is that not a real flaw in the system?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Ambulance Services: Discussion (15 Dec 2021)

Colm Burke: Is Mr. Kenny aware of that happening? He spoke about the situation in Kerry. Is he aware of that level of engagement in, say, Cork or Limerick?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Ambulance Services: Discussion (15 Dec 2021)

Colm Burke: Does Mr. Kenny accept it would be better if there was joined-up thinking and management and the front-line medical people, namely, the nurses, doctors and care assistants in accident and emergency departments, also attended those meetings or at least part of them, rather than medical people being dealt with at third hand after the ambulance management talk to hospital management?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Ambulance Services: Discussion (15 Dec 2021)

Colm Burke: Can I ask Mr. Kenny-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Ambulance Services: Discussion (15 Dec 2021)

Colm Burke: I have a further question on unnecessary ambulance call-outs. The figures from Dublin Fire Brigade show there were 8,532 calls in November 2020 whereas there were 12,657 in November 2021, an increase of more than 4,000. That is a substantial increase in one year for the same month. Is there any explanation for that dramatic increase in a 12-month period? Could some of those people have...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Ambulance Services: Discussion (15 Dec 2021)

Colm Burke: From feedback from staff and colleagues, has Mr. McEvoy found that ambulance services are sometimes called out unnecessarily, with the result that much valuable time is being used in circumstances where people could have availed of other transport to reach medical facilities?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Ambulance Services: Discussion (15 Dec 2021)

Colm Burke: I thank Mr. Kenny.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Ambulance Services: Discussion (15 Dec 2021)

Colm Burke: Fair point. I thank the witnesses.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Ambulance Services: Discussion (15 Dec 2021)

Colm Burke: I thank the witnesses for their presentations and the work they are doing in this area. I want to touch on an issue I raised at the previous session on co-ordination between the National Ambulance Service and hospitals. The reply I received was that while the front-line ambulance personnel and their representatives communicate with hospital management it does not appear to be a three-way...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Ambulance Services: Discussion (15 Dec 2021)

Colm Burke: That is not the question I am asking. My point is what happens after a problem with delays is identified where ambulances are held up in hospitals seems to be a two-way process between the ambulance and the hospital management. The front-line medical people do not appear to be involved in the discussion to resolve the problem.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Ambulance Services: Discussion (15 Dec 2021)

Colm Burke: That is the evidence that was given to us this morning. The person who gave us this evidence is a front-line worker in the ambulance service.