Results 14,761-14,780 of 45,539 for speaker:Simon Harris

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues: Discussion (2 Oct 2019)

Simon Harris: Not yet, but it is my intention to involve as broad a group as possible in dealing with the issue of consultants. The reason behind it is one of sequencing. Without getting into a big discussion on industrial relations and taking up the committee's time, I note that the INMO is a member organisation of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions. It is a party to the public sector pay agreements...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues: Discussion (2 Oct 2019)

Simon Harris: Yes. I know and accept that the committee is under time constraints. I said it at the INMO conference and publicly during the summer. I absolutely believe pay parity is an issue, but I do not believe it is the only one.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues: Discussion (2 Oct 2019)

Simon Harris: The de Buitléir report is a big part of it.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues: Discussion (2 Oct 2019)

Simon Harris: I do not blame the Deputy for asking the question, but I think he understands we have to engage and negotiate with consultants. We have not yet sat down in a room with the INMO to begin the discussion. I hope it can start some time next week, after the announcement of budget 2020. We will have to look at what has been done for other public servants and the pace at which it has been done....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues: Discussion (2 Oct 2019)

Simon Harris: That is a valid question. We will have to see how the engagement with the Minister for Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform goes. It is primarily a matter for him, as is public sector pay policy. The Deputy is right; provision was made for changes to the GP contract. It was not revealed publicly for negotiating reasons, but there was space. There was no space for nurses, but we...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues: Discussion (2 Oct 2019)

Simon Harris: It is a significant revision, of which 95% of GPs voted in favour.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues: Discussion (2 Oct 2019)

Simon Harris: It will increase GP income by about €15,000.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues: Discussion (2 Oct 2019)

Simon Harris: They also say it is a very good development.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues: Discussion (2 Oct 2019)

Simon Harris: I thought Sinn Féin was being positive and constructive these days. I read that somewhere. It is a very welcome development.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues: Discussion (2 Oct 2019)

Simon Harris: Yes; I am aware that that is the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation's figure.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues: Discussion (2 Oct 2019)

Simon Harris: I thank the Deputy for raising the point. I echo the Taoiseach's words yesterday. What staff and patients at University Hospital Limerick want to know is what are we going to do about it. I cannot remember when, but I visited Limerick a couple of months ago, I visited CervicalCheck staff. I called into the hospital where I saw the significant progress being made in the development of the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues: Discussion (2 Oct 2019)

Simon Harris: He should call me some time. I am always available.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues: Discussion (2 Oct 2019)

Simon Harris: To be fair, Deputy O'Reilly highlights this issue on a regular basis. Yes, through the PA Consulting capacity review report there is an indication of the additional staff we need in primary care. The director of the Sláintecare office, Laura Magahy, is currently working with the HSE to turn that into a workforce plan. Ms Magahy will be before the committee on 23 October. To be honest...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues: Discussion (2 Oct 2019)

Simon Harris: Yes. It is 4,000 staff over the ten-year period to deliver Sláintecare's working in the community. Obviously, the Deputy will be aware that not every one of those staff may necessarily be working in a primary care centre. It is an additional 4,000 staff. I take the Deputy's point that we have to be recruiting and training enough people and this will be part of the workforce plan also.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues: Discussion (2 Oct 2019)

Simon Harris: I am sure many of them are but as the Deputy will be aware-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues: Discussion (2 Oct 2019)

Simon Harris: We will need to increase training places in some areas but as part of the reorientation, we also will see people who work in our hospitals today who will be working between our hospitals and our communities, as well as people working in new and different ways. It is not quite a direct case of 4,000 more people requiring 4,000 college places-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues: Discussion (2 Oct 2019)

Simon Harris: I do not want to use the Deputy's time but I am conscious that the chief executive may want to add to that also.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues: Discussion (2 Oct 2019)

Simon Harris: If I were to go back to the Deputy's constituents, I would say exactly the same and would not say anything different.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues: Discussion (2 Oct 2019)

Simon Harris: I will deal with the second question first. I note the Deputy took a different viewpoint on the women's health task force from that taken by the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland, the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, the Institute of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, the National Women's Council of Ireland, and the European Institute of Women's Health, all of whom welcomed the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues: Discussion (2 Oct 2019)

Simon Harris: I am sure he is-----