Results 8,601-8,620 of 11,246 for speaker:Colm Burke

Seanad: Prohibition of Conversion Therapies Bill 2018: Second Stage (2 May 2018)

Colm Burke: I welcome the Minister of State to the House and thank Senators Warfield and Gavan for proposing and seconding this Bill and for taking the time and effort to draft this Bill. As someone who has brought in Private Members' Bills, I know that much time and effort goes into its drafting and ensuring that it is a Bill that can proceed through the House, and I thank them for their efforts in...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Medical Council Specialist Register: Discussion (2 May 2018)

Colm Burke: I thank the witnesses for their comprehensive presentations this morning and for the work they have done in preparing them. My understanding is that the number of medical practitioners registered in Ireland is approximately 18,000, of whom approximately 39% are non-Irish graduates. Can the witnesses provide a more accurate figure? For those who have come to Ireland, perhaps even from...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Medical Council Specialist Register: Discussion (2 May 2018)

Colm Burke: The specific figure I am looking for is the number of those people who have completed the senior training.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Medical Council Specialist Register: Discussion (2 May 2018)

Colm Burke: Many of the 127 not on the specialist register are in the small hospitals such as Cavan, Letterkenny, Portlaoise and Tullamore. Would it be true to say that the risk will always be higher in a small hospital because in a big hospital a doctor might be on a one in six or seven rota, working every day, one night in seven and one weekend in seven, whereas in the small hospitals they are likely...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Medical Council Specialist Register: Discussion (2 May 2018)

Colm Burke: If one chooses to look back I have consistently raised this issue over the past four to five years. If one goes back 15 years ago, there was a different process for recruitment and there was forward planning and then that system was absorbed into the HSE. Now the whole system that existed seems to have disappeared. We are trying to recreate that system and I fully accept that movement is...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Medical Council Specialist Register: Discussion (2 May 2018)

Colm Burke: I raised the issue of consultants in smaller hospitals. They are on a more demanding rota. Is that not taken into account as well?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Medical Council Specialist Register: Discussion (2 May 2018)

Colm Burke: It is not a fair comparison.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Medical Council Specialist Register: Discussion (2 May 2018)

Colm Burke: It is an unfair comparison if we take it from a global point of view rather than comparing it to consultants who are on the specialist register in the smaller hospitals.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Medical Council Specialist Register: Discussion (2 May 2018)

Colm Burke: The figures Dr. Gilligan gave indicating we have the lowest ratio of doctors and consultants in the OECD and, on the other side, Professor Murray's point that people's life expectancy has improved, show the dedication and commitment of the medical profession in Ireland in being able to deliver the service despite all the pressures. We need to face up to the challenge and make sure we can...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: National Cervical Screening Programme: Department of Health, HSE, CervicalCheck and the National Cancer Control Programme (2 May 2018)

Colm Burke: Thank you very much to all of the witnesses for coming in here today. Can I go straight into the issue of open disclosure and the failure to provide that open disclosure? When the information became available that there were inconsistencies in the results, at what stage was there a decision taken not to share that information? Was legal advice sought by either the HSE or CervicalCheck,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: National Cervical Screening Programme: Department of Health, HSE, CervicalCheck and the National Cancer Control Programme (2 May 2018)

Colm Burke: In fairness, is two and a half years not a long period of time in which essential information was not being provided for patients?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: National Cervical Screening Programme: Department of Health, HSE, CervicalCheck and the National Cancer Control Programme (2 May 2018)

Colm Burke: In the particular case there was a detailed exchange of correspondence between Mr. Hickey in Limerick and the head of CervicalCheck which, as I understand it, went on for over a period of 18 months. Surely to God, someone can come to a decision one way or the other, rather than having dragged on correspondence.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: National Cervical Screening Programme: Department of Health, HSE, CervicalCheck and the National Cancer Control Programme (2 May 2018)

Colm Burke: When the legal letter came in, surely it must have set off alarm bells at that stage. The question is to whom did the legal letter come? Was it to CervicalCheck or the HSE? Everyone is hiding behind the State Claims Agency, but am I correct in stating it initially came to the HSE or CervicalCheck?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: National Cervical Screening Programme: Department of Health, HSE, CervicalCheck and the National Cancer Control Programme (2 May 2018)

Colm Burke: I want to find out when the letter came in and who received it. Surely it must have set alarm bells ringing about the need for disclosure to everyone else also?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: National Cervical Screening Programme: Department of Health, HSE, CervicalCheck and the National Cancer Control Programme (2 May 2018)

Colm Burke: In January of what year?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: National Cervical Screening Programme: Department of Health, HSE, CervicalCheck and the National Cancer Control Programme (2 May 2018)

Colm Burke: Did it not set off alarm bells because we are now going through a legal process on the need to look at the process in place for disclosure. The person obviously had concerns that a disclosure had not been made. Surely when a letter like that comes in - it is like any organisation getting a legal letter - the immediate response is if that is what is happening in the particular case, maybe we...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: National Cervical Screening Programme: Department of Health, HSE, CervicalCheck and the National Cancer Control Programme (2 May 2018)

Colm Burke: Surely where errors had been identified and there was a need to disclose information the letter received in January should have set off a process to make sure something was put in place at that stage, rather than having to deal with it now in the public domain.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: National Cervical Screening Programme: Department of Health, HSE, CervicalCheck and the National Cancer Control Programme (2 May 2018)

Colm Burke: I will follow up on the point Deputy Donnelly raised with Dr. Henry regarding the decision-making process and how it seemed to go around in circles. I am sorry for coming back on this. Did it not occur to Dr. Henry that, in the context of the delay in making the decision about getting the information out, someone should have sought legal advice about whether we could run into difficulties...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: National Cervical Screening Programme: Department of Health, HSE, CervicalCheck and the National Cancer Control Programme (2 May 2018)

Colm Burke: Did Dr. Henry not set a timeline with them for when a decision had to be made?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: National Cervical Screening Programme: Department of Health, HSE, CervicalCheck and the National Cancer Control Programme (2 May 2018)

Colm Burke: Did Dr. Henry suggest it?