Results 13,121-13,140 of 26,396 for speaker:David Cullinane

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 15: Hepatitis C Treatment in Ireland
Management of Medical Negligence (22 Nov 2018)

David Cullinane: There is a contradiction here between the response Ms Tait has given and what the Comptroller and Auditor General has reported. Either national guidelines were in place for healthcare providers or they were not. It is either a factual observation by the Comptroller and Auditor General or it is wrong.

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 15: Hepatitis C Treatment in Ireland
Management of Medical Negligence (22 Nov 2018)

David Cullinane: I ask Ms Tait to supply a note on that. The Comptroller and Auditor General may be able to follow up on it and if he is satisfied that is the case, then there is a match. I do not see a match. If there is one, that is fine.

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 15: Hepatitis C Treatment in Ireland
Management of Medical Negligence (22 Nov 2018)

David Cullinane: Therefore, it has been put in place.

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 15: Hepatitis C Treatment in Ireland
Management of Medical Negligence (22 Nov 2018)

David Cullinane: Paragraph 15.31 of the Comptroller and Auditor General's report states:A strategy document produced by the then Eastern Regional Health Authority in 2004 set out recommendations to enhance prevention, treatment and surveillance of hepatitis C among infected people in the eastern region. The report was never published and an implementation plan was not developed. Why was it not published?

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 15: Hepatitis C Treatment in Ireland
Management of Medical Negligence (22 Nov 2018)

David Cullinane: Ms Tait does not know why.

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 15: Hepatitis C Treatment in Ireland
Management of Medical Negligence (22 Nov 2018)

David Cullinane: Does Mr. Connaghan know?

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 15: Hepatitis C Treatment in Ireland
Management of Medical Negligence (22 Nov 2018)

David Cullinane: I understand that. It was for one region of the country. However, it was a report that was done. The Comptroller and Auditor General has compiled a special report and he notes and observes a number of issues, one of which is that this report was compiled in 2004 but was never published and no implementation followed. It is an obvious question that was going to be asked. We are following...

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 15: Hepatitis C Treatment in Ireland
Management of Medical Negligence (22 Nov 2018)

David Cullinane: That helps us as members of the committee and is a reasonable response. Why is that not in this report? When the Comptroller and Auditor General completes his report, does it go to the HSE for comment?

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 15: Hepatitis C Treatment in Ireland
Management of Medical Negligence (22 Nov 2018)

David Cullinane: I do not see that response in this.

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 15: Hepatitis C Treatment in Ireland
Management of Medical Negligence (22 Nov 2018)

David Cullinane: However, the footnote does not explain it. It just states that the Eastern Regional Health Authority was subsumed. There is a clear observation that a report was done but never published and there was no implementation plan. There were going to be obvious questions as to why it was not done.

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 15: Hepatitis C Treatment in Ireland
Management of Medical Negligence (22 Nov 2018)

David Cullinane: My quarrel is not with Mr. Breslin or even with the Comptroller and Auditor General. I am just saying it would have been more helpful if that had been incorporated into the report. We would have been in a better position to understand that.

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 15: Hepatitis C Treatment in Ireland
Management of Medical Negligence (22 Nov 2018)

David Cullinane: I have another question. I am nearly finished. The Comptroller and Auditor General makes a number of observations on the national hepatitis C strategy from 2011 to 2014. The first is that there were 34-----

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 15: Hepatitis C Treatment in Ireland
Management of Medical Negligence (22 Nov 2018)

David Cullinane: There were 36 recommendations and some of them have not been implemented. Mr. McCarthy says that the strategy did not set target outputs in terms of overall treatment numbers. I always look to targets being set to ensure we have a sense of what the output will be and we can measure progress. Is that his observation?

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 15: Hepatitis C Treatment in Ireland
Management of Medical Negligence (22 Nov 2018)

David Cullinane: Was that considered then?

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 15: Hepatitis C Treatment in Ireland
Management of Medical Negligence (22 Nov 2018)

David Cullinane: Did Mr. McCarthy see that as a weakness in the strategy?

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 15: Hepatitis C Treatment in Ireland
Management of Medical Negligence (22 Nov 2018)

David Cullinane: Could that be addressed? First, why was that quantifiable target not made? Second, how many of the 36 recommendations have been implemented? Did Mr. McCarthy deal with that? How many were not implemented?

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 15: Hepatitis C Treatment in Ireland
Management of Medical Negligence (22 Nov 2018)

David Cullinane: Okay.

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 15: Hepatitis C Treatment in Ireland
Management of Medical Negligence (22 Nov 2018)

David Cullinane: The questions were not answered. One was about why there were no targets and the second was about why the recommendations have not been fully implemented.

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 15: Hepatitis C Treatment in Ireland
Management of Medical Negligence (22 Nov 2018)

David Cullinane: Can the witness deal with the absence of setting target outputs as well?

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 15: Hepatitis C Treatment in Ireland
Management of Medical Negligence (22 Nov 2018)

David Cullinane: I will hold Professor McCormick there because this is important in terms of the work Mr. McCarthy does for us. That appears to be a reasonable response. I assume it was communicated to the Comptroller and Auditor General but it is still stated in the report that there was a weakness. Was it not accepted?