Results 12,561-12,580 of 49,836 for speaker:Stephen Donnelly
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Challenges in Hospitals: Minister for Health (26 Apr 2023)
Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Deputy. It is a very timely question and I could not agree with her more. We had a meeting with Mr. Bernard Gloster, Mr. McCallion, Dr. Henry and the full senior Department team also about the waiting list plan on Monday. This is one of the topics I raised. The answer is categorically yes and I would expand it further, as I am sure Deputy Shortall would.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Challenges in Hospitals: Minister for Health (26 Apr 2023)
Stephen Donnelly: I am agreeing, the Deputy is asking if a patient should-----
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Challenges in Hospitals: Minister for Health (26 Apr 2023)
Stephen Donnelly: No, it is not. What is now happening in a small number of cases is the GPs can only refer into say urology - they cannot refer to a consultant - and the hospital manages the workload within the hospital, which is how it should happen. I asked the HSE on Monday how quickly we can bring in what is exactly the Deputy's proposal as a national policy. There are some individual specialties...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Challenges in Hospitals: Minister for Health (26 Apr 2023)
Stephen Donnelly: Yes, we have that.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Challenges in Hospitals: Minister for Health (26 Apr 2023)
Stephen Donnelly: That is a fair question. It is for historic reasons and the answer to that probably goes back quite a long way in terms of reconfiguration of hospitals.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Challenges in Hospitals: Minister for Health (26 Apr 2023)
Stephen Donnelly: A level three, yes. I hear the Deputy and it is a fair question. I do not think that is something that would ever be ruled out but based on what I have seen the solution is based on the current configuration. With a lot more capacity and some important reform the solutions are there.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Challenges in Hospitals: Minister for Health (26 Apr 2023)
Stephen Donnelly: I do not have a detailed update as to how the negotiations are going but as the Deputy will be aware there are ongoing talks between the HSE, the National Ambulance Service, Dublin Fire Brigade, Dublin City Council and the Department of Health to try to resolve the situation in Dublin. The current situation in Dublin is not sustainable. It is the only part of the country where we cannot...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Challenges in Hospitals: Minister for Health (26 Apr 2023)
Stephen Donnelly: We may but I do not have the timeline here with me this morning so I will ask the officials to put a brief together. I have been informed that good progress is being made.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Challenges in Hospitals: Minister for Health (26 Apr 2023)
Stephen Donnelly: Yes, that is no problem.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Challenges in Hospitals: Minister for Health (26 Apr 2023)
Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Deputy. Perhaps Mr. McCallion has the occupancy rates.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Challenges in Hospitals: Minister for Health (26 Apr 2023)
Stephen Donnelly: An Irish Government Economic and Evaluation Service, IGEES, report on bed occupancy within public hospitals was published in recent months. We will forward that report to the Deputy and the other committee members.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Challenges in Hospitals: Minister for Health (26 Apr 2023)
Stephen Donnelly: I will respond. I am open to correction but I think the Sláintecare target was 80%. I am speaking from memory. That was looked at across Europe and 80% was seen as a decent level. I see here that the OECD level is about 85%. We are regularly in the high 90s. The current situation is not sustainable. Regarding the targets set out, there was the 2018 capacity review, which the Deputy...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Challenges in Hospitals: Minister for Health (26 Apr 2023)
Stephen Donnelly: That is the seminal question. At its most basic level we can stop it by doing two things, namely, expanding the permanent capacity in our public health workforce at a record level and reforming our public health service in line with universal healthcare and the reforms called for in Sláintecare. That means a massive investment in community-based care and the National Ambulance Service...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Challenges in Hospitals: Minister for Health (26 Apr 2023)
Stephen Donnelly: Probably for the first time ever, we can now see universal healthcare as a reality in our country. There are three simple tests here. For me, one of the most important unfinished projects of our Republic, which must be the cornerstone of any decent society, is universal healthcare. There are three tests. The first is whether it is affordable for patients. The Deputy will be aware that we...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Challenges in Hospitals: Minister for Health (26 Apr 2023)
Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Deputy for the question, and I fully agree. Probably the single biggest opportunity in respect of trolleys is more discharge. The biggest solution lies outside of the hospital. The Deputy will be aware that there has been a very significant increase - an increase of millions - in the number of home care hours being provided.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Challenges in Hospitals: Minister for Health (26 Apr 2023)
Stephen Donnelly: I will answer the question about the surgical hub. I will ask Mr. Tierney to give the Deputy a quick update on the elective hospital for Cork, if that is helpful, and I will ask Mr. McCallion to give a quick update on specific discharge from CUH. I think Mr. McCallion is working on some of the issues the Deputy has just raised. For my part, I am of the view that the surgical hubs should...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Challenges in Hospitals: Minister for Health (26 Apr 2023)
Stephen Donnelly: It is a fair question. It is hard to say. I certainly believe the current ED problems are eminently solvable without adding a level three hospital there. The solutions are there. I do not think anyone would ever rule out new hospitals but I do not think-----
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Challenges in Hospitals: Minister for Health (26 Apr 2023)
Stephen Donnelly: I will ask Mr. McCallion or Dr. Henry for their views on that.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Challenges in Hospitals: Minister for Health (26 Apr 2023)
Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Deputy for the question. It was a combination of things. In some of the emergency department wards there were long corridors where patients were on trolleys, where they are not meant to be. These are meant to be corridors for people to walk or transit through. I have seen cases, and the HIQA reports point this out regularly, where patients are being denied the dignity they...