Results 11,501-11,520 of 49,836 for speaker:Stephen Donnelly

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Health Services Staff (1 Jun 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: I will have to come back to Deputy Durkan on that. With regard to Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan's question, the short answer is "Yes". We can do more and we can move faster. I believe we are now moving faster. The article in The Lancetreferenced by the Deputy quite rightly looked at Ireland's slower response historically. A lot of money has been put in place in the last three years. As...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Industrial Disputes (1 Jun 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: Yes, I can. I acknowledge the dedication, professionalism and commitment of our medical scientists all across the country. As the Deputy says, we are a year on now since the MLSA engaged in two days of industrial action on 18 and 24 May of last year. That was for their claim for pay parity between medical scientists and clinical biochemists. I am very happy to report that important open...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Industrial Disputes (1 Jun 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Deputy. I agree. The assessment and the report concluded that critically there were no material differences in qualifications and duties in responsibilities between medical scientist grades across laboratory specialists and biochemist grades. Small differences were highlighted particularly in regard to the educational requirements. The assessor gave recommendations for...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Pharmacy Services (1 Jun 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Deputy. I suggest that is exactly what we are doing. We have met the IPU and spoken to pharmacists around the country. I tasked the Department with putting together a package of enhanced practice for pharmacists. That includes minor ailments, flu, access to contraception, medicine shortage protocols to enable pharmacists to substitute medications, and so forth. We have a...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Pharmacy Services (1 Jun 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: No. We are progressing things this year but I cannot yet tell the Deputy when these things will happen, to the month. I am determined we move quickly on this. There is a lot of advantage to be had here, especially with GPs under so much pressure. I cannot give the Deputy an exact timeline because there are clinical governance issues that need to be worked through. There are training...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Health Services Staff (1 Jun 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Deputy and acknowledge his ongoing work on behalf of patients and families with a rare disease diagnosis. We are fully committed to doing everything possible to assist people living with a rare disease and to support their families as well. Good progress was made under the national rare disease plan, including the establishment of a national clinical programme for rare diseases...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Medical Cards (1 Jun 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: We have jumped forward significantly in the questions. I thank the Deputy for his question and recognise his ongoing advocacy on this topic, in particular to ensure that as many people as possible have access to medical cards and, or, GP cards. Medical card provision is primarily based on financial assessment by the HSE, with each applicant assessed on qualifying financial thresholds in...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Medical Cards (1 Jun 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Deputy. We have to keep these things under constant review, particularly as part of the Estimates process. I can confirm that there has been an increase in the number of medical cards since the 2019 figures. Therefore, the numbers are going up rather than being suppressed because of inflation, for example. There has been a 1.4% increase in medical cards and a 6.6% increase in...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Medical Cards (1 Jun 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank both Deputies. We have to keep an open mind to patient cost generally. One of the priorities for the Government has been reducing healthcare costs for patients. We increased the medical card thresholds for the over-70s; we are looking at about half a million more GP cards; we have introduced free contraception and will go further in September when we will introduce State-funded...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Pharmacy Services (1 Jun 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: I fully agree and acknowledge this is something the Deputy has been advocating for and pushing on repeatedly. We greatly value the work that pharmacists and pharmacies do in terms of their place within the health and social care service. I fully agree that the practice of pharmacy and the provision of pharmaceutical care has the potential to be substantially enhanced to deliver more care...

Seanad: Capital Investment in the Health Service: Statements (1 Jun 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: I welcome our esteemed guests from Mayo too. They are all very welcome. It is better than being in school, doing schoolwork and homework, is it not? It is way better. I thank the Acting Chairperson and Senators for the opportunity to discuss with the Seanad today the very substantial capital investment in our health and social care services. This Government is absolutely committed to...

Seanad: Capital Investment in the Health Service: Statements (1 Jun 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank colleagues for their contributions. I have been trying to piece together responses to the various projects that have been raised. I acknowledge the Seanad's position on the naming of the children’s hospital. The advice I have is different. That is an ongoing consideration for Government. On women’s health centres, the answer is "Yes", but not in the way laid out in...

Seanad: Capital Investment in the Health Service: Statements (1 Jun 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: Yes but we just need to be careful that it does not slow things down.Those involved locally have a very understandable instinct to ask why, if we are building it, we cannot just add the other thing that we need. In Galway, that meant nothing happened for years. We can of course look at this with an open mind. Colleagues raised the issue of timing. The public spending code was not fit for...

Seanad: Capital Investment in the Health Service: Statements (1 Jun 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: I do not know about that. I will need to get back to the Senator on it.

Seanad: Capital Investment in the Health Service: Statements (1 Jun 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: We will revert to the Senator.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Emergency Departments (1 Jun 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: I agree with all of that. The hospitals need to take a zero-tolerance approach to patients on trolleys. We have seen it. For example, Tullamore hospital is a very good case study where a new management team came in, they were on the ground in the emergency department and challenging why this patient and that patient were on trolleys and following that up right through the hospital. They...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Hospital Overcrowding (1 Jun 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: The conversation has moved in a positive way in recent years. I recall when we had these sorts of discussions at the health committee four years ago and there was quite a lot of resistance. The idea that we would move from five to seven days was not being entertained. However, the engagement I have had right across the board has been very positive. The new consultant contract moves from...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Hospital Overcrowding (1 Jun 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: The next question, in the name of Deputy Cullinane, relates to exactly that matter. We have two plans, which are, the short-term plan and the multi-annual plan. The direction I have given to the Department and HSE is clear. We must have structural change such that, month by month, the trolley numbers we are seeing come down. What happened last year because of the impact of Covid - and I...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Emergency Departments (1 Jun 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: I agree that the current situation in too many hospitals, although not all, is unacceptable. I think we all agree that it is especially the case in respect of older people who are waiting too long. As the Deputy quite rightly said, those figures are averages and do not include the people who are waiting on trolleys for 24 hours, 48 hours or longer. It is not an acceptable situation. ...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Emergency Departments (1 Jun 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: That is a frustration. We have seen an unprecedented expansion in capacity. There are nearly 21,000 extra people and 1,000 extra beds, with another 500 on the way. We are progressing new hospitals. There are new operating theatres and outpatient departments. We have built an entirely new community care service in the past two years. What we are seeing here is reflected in what other...