Results 18,781-18,800 of 49,836 for speaker:Stephen Donnelly

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Health Services Staff (12 Jul 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Deputy. I did meet Tony Wilkinson outside the gates of Leinster House. At the moment, there are five Parkinson's disease nurse specialists in the acute section, that is, in acute neurology. They are in Limerick, St. Vincent's, Tallaght, the Mater and Galway hospitals. The Deputy made the point that we do not have one of the nurse specialists in Cork at the moment. That is...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Health Services Staff (12 Jul 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue relating to recruitment generally, as well as for health and social care professionals and therapists and, as the Deputy rightly stated, in the area of children's disability services. I acknowledge that recruitment is very challenging at present, particularly as we are dealing with the effects of the global pandemic. However, it is worth...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Health Services Staff (12 Jul 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: There are two groups specifically providing the service for children with disabilities. One is the community disability network teams through the progressing disability services strategy and the other is what we would consider to be normal primary care teams. The hundreds of vacant posts are in the area of progressing disability services. They are being filled but we need to do so as...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Health Services Staff (12 Jul 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: It is certainly something that can be examined. Many different areas, such as advanced practitioners in health and social care professional grades, are also being considered as well. We are looking into a lot of innovation in this regard. To go back to the original question on international recruitment, we are supplementing the national workforce through international recruitment across...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Medical Cards (12 Jul 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: Eligibility for a medical card is primarily based on a financial assessment in accordance with the Act of 1970. The issue of granting medical cards on the basis of illness or a disability was previously examined in 2014 by an expert panel on medical need and medical card eligibility. The panel concluded that it was not feasible, desirable or ethically justifiable to list medical conditions...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Dental Services (12 Jul 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: In an emergency situation, people should get in touch with the HSE, which will do several things. The first thing it will do is contact dentists who are on the scheme in the area and try to arrange emergency care or an emergency visit. In an extreme situation, the care can be provided directly by a HSE dentist. However, there is a very limited number of HSE dentists and they are spending...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Dental Services (12 Jul 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: The only person waffling here is the Deputy. She dismissed a massive increase. She said that an increase from €40 million to €66 million is not substantial. That is nonsense. The only person talking rubbish here right now is the Deputy.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Dental Services (12 Jul 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: The Deputy does not even have the courtesy to let other people in this Chamber speak. We all have to listen to her nonsense, waffle and insults.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Dental Services (12 Jul 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: I have just answered the questions. By the way, the Deputy just described the Irish healthcare system as a Third World healthcare system.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Dental Services (12 Jul 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: And the Deputy repeated it here. I wonder how many Third World healthcare systems she has been in. What an insult from the Deputy, as an elected Member, to come here and say that. What an insult to an insult to all of the dentists, doctors-----

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Dental Services (12 Jul 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: -----and nurses. What we will do while she waffles is fix the problem.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Health Services Staff (12 Jul 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. I met some of the representatives outside the Kildare Street gates just last week and we discussed these issues. The HSE’s national clinical programme for neurology has engaged with the patient organisations to identify service requirements for neurology nurse specialists. The clinical programme recognises the value of highly...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Health Services Staff (12 Jul 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: I recognise there is a shortage in the Cork and Munster area. In fact, it was one of the things that was raised in the conversation I had with the representative from the patient group just last week. The Deputy's question was whether we can we look at Cork and the Munster area as one of the areas that clearly does not have the level of resource that it needs and, therefore, is one of the...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Cannabis for Medicinal Use (12 Jul 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: Let us see what the research comes back with. I acknowledge the Deputy's position and I know there are others here and around the world who share his view. I want to see what the evidence comes back with and we can then look at clinical recommendations about expanding the conditions. Part of why it might be more limited than would have been expected is good news. Approximately 85% of...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Emergency Departments (12 Jul 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Deputy. I agree that the time patients are having to wait in emergency departments is not acceptable. Much of that is due to Covid and it is frustrating for everyone, including the patients, our healthcare professionals and all of us, because there is a level of capacity in the system now that has never been there before. There are more hospital beds, doctors, nurses and...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Emergency Departments (12 Jul 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: In the short term, one of the issues we are looking at is exactly the point the Deputy has raised. The injury units are superb. Many people who are walking into emergency departments could be seen quicker in an injury unit. We are considering whether the injury units can be opened for longer. Can they see more people? There are age limits on many of the injury units. Is everybody in the...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Emergency Departments (12 Jul 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: The Deputy raised the example of Waterford, which is a great example of what can be done. A specialist team was sent into Waterford a few years ago. I stand to be corrected but from memory, I was told that it went from being one of the worst performing in respect of patient waiting times to the best. They have done things differently in Waterford.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Emergency Departments (12 Jul 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: There are, for example, overflow beds. The hospital is doing incredibly well. We have taken the same approach, for example, in Kerry and Limerick, where we have sent in specialist teams. There is a plan. It is a living document and as we learn more, the plan changes. I would be very happy to share the draft we have now with the Deputy. There are at least ten specific items that are...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Dental Services (12 Jul 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: The situation the Deputy has described is unacceptable. Everybody who has a medical card needs to be able to access a dentist under the dental treatment service scheme. As the Deputy has quite rightly identified, the number of dentists participating in the scheme has fallen substantially, particularly over the past two years. There was a precipitous drop in participants in 2019, 2020, 2021...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Health Services Staff (12 Jul 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Deputy. The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform introduced the temporary special leave with pay scheme for Covid at the start of the pandemic. It was there to assist in preventing Covid spread in workplaces. Since 1 July this pay continues to cover Covid-related illnesses for the duration of the self-isolation period. Any period of illness extending beyond the...