Results 1,961-1,980 of 11,183 for speaker:Colm Burke

Public Accounts Committee: Health Service Executive: Financial Statements 2023 (5 Oct 2023)

Colm Burke: That is not giving me any information about the reasons people are leaving. We are losing some good people and the HSE, the taxpayer and I need to find out why. We are spending a great deal of money on attracting people from abroad to fill vacancies. Why can we not identify why good people are leaving the service?

Public Accounts Committee: Health Service Executive: Financial Statements 2023 (5 Oct 2023)

Colm Burke: But we have not identified any of them.

Public Accounts Committee: Health Service Executive: Financial Statements 2023 (5 Oct 2023)

Colm Burke: Regarding the €1 billion paid out for agency staff and so forth, can that figure be reduced for the coming year and further on?

Public Accounts Committee: Health Service Executive: Financial Statements 2023 (5 Oct 2023)

Colm Burke: My understanding is that there are more than 350 medical locums. Can that number be reduced? How can we fast-track the reduction so that we can have people in posts permanently? Locums are costing us a great deal of money.

Public Accounts Committee: Health Service Executive: Financial Statements 2023 (5 Oct 2023)

Colm Burke: How many are there?

Public Accounts Committee: Health Service Executive: Financial Statements 2023 (5 Oct 2023)

Colm Burke: Do the witnesses accept that, in many cases, and especially in smaller hospitals, there is a difficulty in recruiting people to fill posts and it is taking much longer?

Public Accounts Committee: Health Service Executive: Financial Statements 2023 (5 Oct 2023)

Colm Burke: Have questions been asked as to how the HSE can improve this situation? In some of our smaller hospitals, up to 80% of the medical staff did not go through the Irish university or training systems.

Public Accounts Committee: Health Service Executive: Financial Statements 2023 (5 Oct 2023)

Colm Burke: I will move on to section 38 and 39 organisations. Last year, €6.3 billion was paid out. My understanding is that there are approximately 2,500 organisations. Some of them are large, for example, the voluntary hospitals, but some are quite small. Is any effort being made to see how we can get better on this front? In fairness, the organisations are doing a great deal of very good...

Public Accounts Committee: Health Service Executive: Financial Statements 2023 (5 Oct 2023)

Colm Burke: Moving on from that, my understanding is the number of beds in public nursing homes has reduced in real terms but the costs continue to go up. Can efficiencies be created in that area? For instance, some of the public nursing homes got an increase of more than 12% under the National Treatment Purchase Fund, NTPF, whereas some of the private nursing homes got an increase of 1.5%. That...

Public Accounts Committee: Health Service Executive: Financial Statements 2023 (5 Oct 2023)

Colm Burke: I accept that but, for instance, the owners of one nursing home came to me. It is tied by section 38 regulations regarding salaries and everything else but it got an increase of 1.5%. They are now talking about cutting back, reducing the number of beds they are going to provide because they cannot keep going. They are now in a loss-making situation. I acknowledge the NTPF is not under Mr....

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (5 Oct 2023)

Colm Burke: No.

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Road Projects (5 Oct 2023)

Colm Burke: 47. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the action his Department is taking to progress the north ring road in Cork city; what level of funding will be allocated for the coming year, in view of the large volume of traffic which is now forced to travel through Mayfield, including traffic heading for the port facilities; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43081/23]

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Road Projects (5 Oct 2023)

Colm Burke: 67. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the action his Department is taking to progress the Mallow relief road project; what level of funding will be allocated for the coming year, in view that €100,000 was allocated in 2023; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43080/23]

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Bus Services (5 Oct 2023)

Colm Burke: 170. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the action his Department is taking to improve the bus service in Cork in view that there are recurring issues with reliability and capacity; if additional funding will be provided to improve the service; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43199/23]

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Road Projects (5 Oct 2023)

Colm Burke: 171. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport to provide an update on progress made to date on the Banduff road scheme project; the level of funding that will be provided by the Department for the project in the coming year; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43200/23]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Health Services (5 Oct 2023)

Colm Burke: 349. To ask the Minister for Health when the review of cardiac services will be published; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43378/23]

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: HIQA Report 2022: Discussion (4 Oct 2023)

Colm Burke: I want to raise the issue of nursing home inspections and the challenges being faced in this regard. There is a huge variation regarding funding for public nursing homes and private nursing homes. Do the witnesses see this in their visits to private nursing homes? Obviously, there are far more challenges in private nursing homes because of the fact that they are finding it more difficult...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: HIQA Report 2022: Discussion (4 Oct 2023)

Colm Burke: Yes, I accept that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: HIQA Report 2022: Discussion (4 Oct 2023)

Colm Burke: In fairness, 41 private nursing homes have closed in the past four years. This is a loss of 1,200 beds, so obviously there are challenges there. Is it coming up as an issue when HIQA does inspections in the sense that corners are being cut because the same level of funding is not available?