Results 6,981-7,000 of 49,836 for speaker:Stephen Donnelly
- Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 38 - Health (Revised) (31 Jan 2024) Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Deputy for that and for the acknowledgement of the work that healthcare workers have done. Every one of us, including every member of the committee and myself, talk to healthcare workers a lot. We in the Oireachtas quite rightly focus on what is not working, as does the media, because those are the areas in which we need to redouble our efforts. However, there is very little...
- Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 38 - Health (Revised) (31 Jan 2024) Stephen Donnelly: I am sorry to cut across but, if we still have time, I can come back to the other questions. Does the Deputy want me to keep going?
- Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 38 - Health (Revised) (31 Jan 2024) Stephen Donnelly: On CAMHS, I could not agree more. Youth mental health needed significant investment but it needed more than that. CAMHS is what we talk about most but we must bear in mind that it is for one in 50 children and young people who need mental health support. The other community-based supports are for the other 49 in 50. We must invest there as well. Specifically on CAMHS, the services needed...
- Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 38 - Health (Revised) (31 Jan 2024) Stephen Donnelly: Not really, no. My view is what they are doing is not right but they are doing it and we do not have the information. What we have is information from last summer which showed a fall from 4,600 people to 3,900. We have to continue that through this year and accelerate it. I am confident the additional funding, along with the Minister of State, Deputy Butler's political leadership and the...
- Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 38 - Health (Revised) (31 Jan 2024) Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Deputy. I might address his two points together because they are linked, namely, the private hospital capacity and accessing expert opinion. Specifically on accessing beds in private hospitals, there is a new private hospital framework that was put in place in December. It has various protocols in terms of surge and being able to access more beds as needed. Some hospitals are...
- Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 38 - Health (Revised) (31 Jan 2024) Stephen Donnelly: I accept and have clearly stated right from the off, from the day after the budget announcement, that there is a material risk of a substantial Supplementary Estimate being required.
- Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 38 - Health (Revised) (31 Jan 2024) Stephen Donnelly: I know the Deputy is not trying to put words in my mouth but, to be clear, I am not saying it is a certainty. I am absolutely not saying that. I am saying it is a material risk and there could potentially be a significant Supplementary Estimate. I said that from day one. It is important that we are-----
- Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 38 - Health (Revised) (31 Jan 2024) Stephen Donnelly: Sure.
- Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 38 - Health (Revised) (31 Jan 2024) Stephen Donnelly: I will respond quickly, if I may. For me, the red line is services. We do not cut services but, rather, protect and grow services for patients. The question then is how to do that within the funding available. That is why we have set up a productivity task force. There are potentially significant savings not just for this year, but into future years. That is important. We have just...
- Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 38 - Health (Revised) (31 Jan 2024) Stephen Donnelly: I will just finish this point. This year, we are coming into a year where prices are falling. The price of medicines may not fall but interest rates will fall, please God, and energy prices are falling. We are coming into a different environment this year from what we went into last year. That is why I am saying we will do everything we can to bring the services in on budget. Where it...
- Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 38 - Health (Revised) (31 Jan 2024) Stephen Donnelly: On this, no. Whoever is saying that to the Deputy-----
- Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 38 - Health (Revised) (31 Jan 2024) Stephen Donnelly: Fine.
- Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 38 - Health (Revised) (31 Jan 2024) Stephen Donnelly: On this, I disagree. The health service, as we all know, is a huge national system. It is incredibly complex and there are thousands of competing priorities in every part of the country. As a Minister, you have to make some calls on the most important points of focus; you just have to do that. For the first year and a half, it was pretty straightforward. It was Covid, and the system...
- Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 38 - Health (Revised) (31 Jan 2024) Stephen Donnelly: -----to point to one of the core things the HSE is to focus on.
- Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 38 - Health (Revised) (31 Jan 2024) Stephen Donnelly: Theoretically, the job of the chief executive and Secretary General is to manage productivity, patient safety, services, affordability, waiting lists, the capital plan and everything else, but ultimately one has to be able to specify the top priorities. The reality is that the HSE really does not have a culture of performance management, productivity and savings. In my previous life, before...
- Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 38 - Health (Revised) (31 Jan 2024) Stephen Donnelly: I cannot guarantee the outcome but we will certainly consider it.
- Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 38 - Health (Revised) (31 Jan 2024) Stephen Donnelly: Yes.
- Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 38 - Health (Revised) (31 Jan 2024) Stephen Donnelly: I thank Deputy Cullinane. Let us talk about where what is in place does not apply. It does not apply to consultants. There is no pause on consultant recruitment. I made this decision because it can take such a long time. We are in the middle of going from approximately 4,000 to approximately 6,000 hospital consultants. This is going very well. Hundreds more consultants were hired last...