Results 8,501-8,520 of 11,255 for speaker:Colm Burke

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: New Standard Operating Procedure for Assessment of Need under the Disability Act 2005: Discussion (27 Jun 2018)

Colm Burke: Why is that specific area standing out? Is there a particular managerial issue? What is the problem in North Lee and South Lee? That is the area I am in, particularly North Lee. Last Friday night I was with a family and their teenage son. In April, it was established that he needed to be seen by a consultant. It is now ten weeks later and they have not even been given an appointment. I...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: New Standard Operating Procedure for Assessment of Need under the Disability Act 2005: Discussion (27 Jun 2018)

Colm Burke: What is stalling the restructuring in that area?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: New Standard Operating Procedure for Assessment of Need under the Disability Act 2005: Discussion (27 Jun 2018)

Colm Burke: There is something stalling it in this particular area.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: New Standard Operating Procedure for Assessment of Need under the Disability Act 2005: Discussion (27 Jun 2018)

Colm Burke: It will take time to deal with the backlog of 1,718 assessments. It will not solve all the problems in the morning.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: New Standard Operating Procedure for Assessment of Need under the Disability Act 2005: Discussion (27 Jun 2018)

Colm Burke: I apologise for missing the presentation but I was trying to resolve a medical issue for someone. I asked the groups that presented earlier about the availability of people with the required qualifications and they stated adequate numbers were available to fill any vacancies or shortfall. My understanding from the HSE presentation is that the officials feel that is not the case. Can they...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: New Standard Operating Procedure for Assessment of Need under the Disability Act 2005: Discussion (27 Jun 2018)

Colm Burke: Some 40% of people waiting for assessments are in Cork.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: New Standard Operating Procedure for Assessment of Need under the Disability Act 2005: Discussion (27 Jun 2018)

Colm Burke: That raises very serious questions as to how that was allowed to happen.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: New Standard Operating Procedure for Assessment of Need under the Disability Act 2005: Discussion (27 Jun 2018)

Colm Burke: It is important for the figures in respect of each area to be sent on to the committee.

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Nursing Home Services (20 Jun 2018)

Colm Burke: I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House to deal with this matter. At present, there are 23,500 people in private nursing homes under the fair deal scheme. These private nursing homes provide a valuable service to the country and excellent care to the many people who need it. While it is positive that we have reached full employment, the nursing home sector is experiencing...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Nursing Home Services (20 Jun 2018)

Colm Burke: My understanding is that Nursing Homes Ireland made a submission to the Department more than six months ago and has been raising this issue for some time with the Department. The Department has not corresponded with the Minister of State's Department, but I will again take back his message. There is a serious shortage, and it is interesting that it does not just apply to Ireland. For...

Seanad: Order of Business (20 Jun 2018)

Colm Burke: I join Senator Boyhan in recognising World Refugee Day. It is important to continue to highlight the atrocities occurring around the world but also to give support to the many agencies helping those in refugee camps. I visited a refugee camp on the Sudanese border some years ago and they are difficult to manage. There were more than 570,000 people from four countries living in the camp I...

Seanad: Order of Business (20 Jun 2018)

Colm Burke: It is a huge challenge facing us.

Seanad: Order of Business (20 Jun 2018)

Colm Burke: We need to review this and change the qualifying criteria but we also need to deliver houses. We need to do much more in that area.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Second Stage (20 Jun 2018)

Colm Burke: I welcome the Minister to the House. Coming from the legal profession, I have some concerns on the Bill. It is important to recognise that the system of appointment to the judicial service has been in place since 1922 and the Judiciary has served the country very well. The Judiciary has pushed out the boundaries in constitutional cases and has given rights which were perceived not to...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Second Stage (20 Jun 2018)

Colm Burke: In fairness, the people to whom the Senator is referring are not here to give their views or defend themselves.

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Home Care Packages (13 Jun 2018)

Colm Burke: I welcome the Minister of State to the House and thank her for dealing with this matter. The question I raise is in regard to homecare providers. A presentation was given recently to a meeting of the Joint Committee on Health that I chaired on 29 May last at which homecare providers advised that they are finding it difficult to recruit people because of full employment and the fact that...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Home Care Packages (13 Jun 2018)

Colm Burke: I thank the Minister of State. There are two sides to this issue. One is about providing home care, which is a major challenge we now face. Home care providers have told me they cannot get people to work because if they employ them for three hours a day for five days a week, they will get no allowance of any description. They have said that if it was an hours-based system, they could get...

Seanad: Order of Business (13 Jun 2018)

Colm Burke: I agree with what my colleague has said about the delays in the production of CervicalCheck files. One of the problems in the health service is that there has been very little computerisation of the system in recent years. Other countries, including Denmark, started to computerise records as long ago as 1996. By contrast, there has been little or no investment in the computerisation system...

Seanad: Order of Business (13 Jun 2018)

Colm Burke: We are now paying the price in the health service. Every effort must be made to make sure there will be adequate computerisation of all medical records in order that delays like those which have occurred in this case do not recur. Every effort must be made to provide the files in a timely manner and on the earliest possible date. I have written to the Minister about a commitment given in...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: General Scheme of the Patient Safety (Licensing) Bill: Discussion (13 Jun 2018)

Colm Burke: I apologise for not being here earlier but I had to be in the Seanad for a Commencement matter. I have come across open disclosure on many occasions. If an incident occurs in which the medical team does not know exactly what went wrong, it can decide on an external review. However, I have seen cases where there was agreement as to who would carry out the review but where the HSE...