Results 13,441-13,460 of 26,610 for speaker:David Cullinane

Public Accounts Committee: Matters related to Medical Negligence, Open Disclosure, Cervical Cancer and Thalidomide Litigation (8 Nov 2018)

David Cullinane: The HSE was certainly aware of it in 2015.

Public Accounts Committee: Matters related to Medical Negligence, Open Disclosure, Cervical Cancer and Thalidomide Litigation (8 Nov 2018)

David Cullinane: In 2015, 2016 and perhaps 2017 at many meetings of this committee we heard about discussions on a media strategy and disclosures. From our perspective, in terms of governance and procurement, what was most alarming about the Scally report was the finding that much of the original proposal material had been destroyed in 2017 and that it was in line with policy that after a particular...

Public Accounts Committee: Matters related to Medical Negligence, Open Disclosure, Cervical Cancer and Thalidomide Litigation (8 Nov 2018)

David Cullinane: Looking forward is fantastic and I hope lessons have been learned. Looking back is primarily the core function of the committee. I appreciate that today in the main we are dealing with the claims issue, but the procurement issue is also important. The organisation knew from the findings of the audit that there were problems in procurement yet, when Dr. Scally tried to do his work, he was...

Public Accounts Committee: Matters related to Medical Negligence, Open Disclosure, Cervical Cancer and Thalidomide Litigation (8 Nov 2018)

David Cullinane: It would be interesting to see how many claims were in play.

Public Accounts Committee: Matters related to Medical Negligence, Open Disclosure, Cervical Cancer and Thalidomide Litigation (8 Nov 2018)

David Cullinane: I believe it cost more on the claimants’ side.

Public Accounts Committee: Matters related to Medical Negligence, Open Disclosure, Cervical Cancer and Thalidomide Litigation (8 Nov 2018)

David Cullinane: I wish to ask three questions. The first relates to process and I believe there is something of a pushback from some civil servants on this, as they try to put the blame or the responsibility back onto politicians rather than take responsibility themselves. When the helpline was first set up to support the women affected by the CervicalCheck scandal, what issues emerged in calls to the...

Public Accounts Committee: Matters related to Medical Negligence, Open Disclosure, Cervical Cancer and Thalidomide Litigation (8 Nov 2018)

David Cullinane: Was retesting one of the demands?

Public Accounts Committee: Matters related to Medical Negligence, Open Disclosure, Cervical Cancer and Thalidomide Litigation (8 Nov 2018)

David Cullinane: They did not want a simple rereading of an original smear. I spoke to the Minister of Health directly on this and I know that among the demands of women who contacted the system was a demand for a new smear. Is that not correct?

Public Accounts Committee: Matters related to Medical Negligence, Open Disclosure, Cervical Cancer and Thalidomide Litigation (8 Nov 2018)

David Cullinane: GPs called for this as well. They would have had very distressed women come before them who needed to be supported, comforted and reassured. They contacted the Minister and the Department to tell them we needed to do something, following which the decision was made to give them free screening. That was the right decision and resources had to be put in. Huge pressure was put on the system...

Public Accounts Committee: Matters related to Medical Negligence, Open Disclosure, Cervical Cancer and Thalidomide Litigation (8 Nov 2018)

David Cullinane: My point is that this was not an overreaction by politicians or a panicked response. This view feeds into the notion that the women were hysterical and it amounts to blaming them. We should not blame the women who contacted the hotline to be reassured, following which a political decision was made. There are very few occasions on which I would support the Minister for Health but I support...

Public Accounts Committee: Matters related to Medical Negligence, Open Disclosure, Cervical Cancer and Thalidomide Litigation (8 Nov 2018)

David Cullinane: I want to come back to the issue of procurement, though I will not go over the issue of contracts being destroyed. I raised this issue because Dr. Scally found that there were problems with procurement. On page 77 of the Scally report, under a section on the analysis of key issues, he states that there appears to have been an overemphasis on obtaining the lowest cost from suppliers. Does...

Public Accounts Committee: Matters related to Medical Negligence, Open Disclosure, Cervical Cancer and Thalidomide Litigation (8 Nov 2018)

David Cullinane: I am going to come to the metrics in a moment but my very deliberate question was: Does Mr. McCallion accept what Dr. Scally is saying is that lower costs seem to trump quality?

Public Accounts Committee: Matters related to Medical Negligence, Open Disclosure, Cervical Cancer and Thalidomide Litigation (8 Nov 2018)

David Cullinane: That is what he said.

Public Accounts Committee: Matters related to Medical Negligence, Open Disclosure, Cervical Cancer and Thalidomide Litigation (8 Nov 2018)

David Cullinane: One can accept somebody's report - with respect, this is part of the problem - but one does not necessarily then say that one accepts the proposition that he has put in the report. The report in its general terms is accepted. That is fine. Specifically here he is talking about procurement. He is saying that costs seem to be the biggest issue for the HSE, not quality. I am asking if that...

Public Accounts Committee: Matters related to Medical Negligence, Open Disclosure, Cervical Cancer and Thalidomide Litigation (8 Nov 2018)

David Cullinane: The HSE does not know yet.

Public Accounts Committee: Matters related to Medical Negligence, Open Disclosure, Cervical Cancer and Thalidomide Litigation (8 Nov 2018)

David Cullinane: When the HSE is looking back will there be documents that will not be there?

Public Accounts Committee: Matters related to Medical Negligence, Open Disclosure, Cervical Cancer and Thalidomide Litigation (8 Nov 2018)

David Cullinane: The text states that the request for proposal, RFP, documentation for each primary tender consistently underspecified quality and service level expectations.

Public Accounts Committee: Matters related to Medical Negligence, Open Disclosure, Cervical Cancer and Thalidomide Litigation (8 Nov 2018)

David Cullinane: The part that troubles me from a public accounts committee perspective is one we seem to be coming across this time and again. When we look at procurement the issue arises as to whether sufficient metrics are in place to allow the Committee of Public Accounts to evaluate whether or not what has been set out as the objective has actually been met. We have seen this not just in procurement...

Public Accounts Committee: Matters related to Medical Negligence, Open Disclosure, Cervical Cancer and Thalidomide Litigation (8 Nov 2018)

David Cullinane: I am looking at what is in front of me in the report and I am not trying to put words into anyone's mouth. There are other issues that are not in the report that we could comment on which were maybe not covered. Mr. McCallion says that there were some issues he could not cover because he did not have the information. He says very clearly here there was and is - he went out of his way to...

Public Accounts Committee: Matters related to Medical Negligence, Open Disclosure, Cervical Cancer and Thalidomide Litigation (8 Nov 2018)

David Cullinane: He is obviously saying that they are not comprehensive enough and that the measurable suite of service delivery metrics - in other words what he or the Comptroller and Auditor General or we in the Committee of Public Accounts can use as a benchmark - are not there. What I am saying to Mr. McCallion is that this is not good for public servants. That is why there is a call for people to be...