Results 861-880 of 10,647 for speaker:Colm Burke

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Update on Sláintecare Reforms (Resumed) (6 Dec 2023)

Colm Burke: I thank all of the witnesses for coming in here this morning to give us an update. I will first deal with the issue of the surgical hubs. When are we likely to have all of these fully operational with regard to the design, build and making them available? What timescale are we talking about for each of those?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Update on Sláintecare Reforms (Resumed) (6 Dec 2023)

Colm Burke: Does Mr. McCallion see any of those opening in 2024?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Update on Sláintecare Reforms (Resumed) (6 Dec 2023)

Colm Burke: There is a huge change in that we have had a 40% increase in the population over the last 23 years. We have a huge demand for services. Can anything be done to expedite the delivery of these additional services? We can talk all we like about the employment of more consultants but consider what happens if we employ more consultants. For instance, one consultant came from the United States...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Update on Sláintecare Reforms (Resumed) (6 Dec 2023)

Colm Burke: In the remaining period of time there is a problem in that some theatres are not operating after 4 p.m., as I said. We have already had the Secretary General of the Department of Health telling us the number of people employed in hospital services increased by 36%, but the actual number of people being seen and treated in hospitals in some cases is as low as 10%, and in some as high as 20%,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Update on Sláintecare Reforms (Resumed) (6 Dec 2023)

Colm Burke: I will raise one specific point with regard to South Infirmary Victoria University Hospital in Cork. There are two new theatres for ophthalmology and a new outpatients clinic, but there is still no agreement about the transfer of ophthalmology from Cork University Hospital to South Infirmary Victoria University Hospital, and no progress has been made. As a result, the theatres and the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Update on Sláintecare Reforms (Resumed) (6 Dec 2023)

Colm Burke: That is not the question. Nothing has happened. Absolutely nothing has happened.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Update on Sláintecare Reforms (Resumed) (6 Dec 2023)

Colm Burke: We have lost time. We are putting money into infrastructure and then finding it is not being used appropriately. A huge number of people are having to travel to the North for ophthalmology and are travelling outside the State for ophthalmology and yet here we are. It was flagged up over two years ago that this was to happen yet here we are two years later with under-utilisation of a brand...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Update on Sláintecare Reforms (Resumed) (6 Dec 2023)

Colm Burke: I will move on to the issue of the elective hospital. I understood - it was said here by the Minister for Health a number of months ago - that we would expect to be going for planning by October 2023. However, we do not even have a design team appointed. Even if we appoint a design team at the end of January, when can we expect to have a design for the new elective hospital? When are we...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Update on Sláintecare Reforms (Resumed) (6 Dec 2023)

Colm Burke: We have had a population increase of 40%. We are talking about building a new elective hospital. If we went out to the private sector they would have it done and dusted in three years. At the rate we are going we will not see this hospital for at least five years. We are under huge pressure in all of the core costs. We need additional beds. We have a whole lot of problems where we have...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Update on Sláintecare Reforms (Resumed) (6 Dec 2023)

Colm Burke: Does Mr. McCallion accept that given the increase in population and the number of people in employment increasing, the timescale within the Department and the HSE is no longer adequate to deal with the demands on the service? There is an additional problem with the growth in population among the older age group. It will be 1 million people within the next five years. We are not going...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Update on Sláintecare Reforms (Resumed) (6 Dec 2023)

Colm Burke: Is that giving an excuse for a delay with the elective hospitals?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Update on Sláintecare Reforms (Resumed) (6 Dec 2023)

Colm Burke: That seems to be what is happening.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Update on Sláintecare Reforms (Resumed) (6 Dec 2023)

Colm Burke: We were definitely led to believe that planning for elective hospitals would go in by October 2023. Now, the way we are talking, they will not even be in for planning by October 2024.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Update on Sláintecare Reforms (Resumed) (6 Dec 2023)

Colm Burke: Does Mr. McCallion not agree that there is now a need to see how we can expedite these projects for delivery? The old system of doing it is not working. It is just not working. We are not dealing with the growth in population, the demand for services, and the changing demography of the population.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Update on Sláintecare Reforms (Resumed) (6 Dec 2023)

Colm Burke: Have public private partnerships been considered for any of the projects we are talking about?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Update on Sláintecare Reforms (Resumed) (6 Dec 2023)

Colm Burke: I want to go back to the issue of the roll-out of support during the Christmas period. One of the issues that arose last year was that while the HSE had contracted beds, a lot of them were not used during the first two weeks of January because there was no effective mechanism in place for getting patients out of hospital. Will we have the necessary staff available over the coming Christmas...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Update on Sláintecare Reforms (Resumed) (6 Dec 2023)

Colm Burke: Are we satisfied that we have a sufficient number of contracted beds in place from 15 December on? Obviously the same number of operations will not be done from 20 or 21 December until the start of January. Some people may be in hospital for longer but there is an urgent need to get people out at the same time. Are we satisfied that the mechanisms are in place to deal with this?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Update on Sláintecare Reforms (Resumed) (6 Dec 2023)

Colm Burke: I want to move on from the issue of getting people out of hospital and into step-down care facilities to the issue of providing home care when patients no longer need to be in such facilities or in hospital. In the Cork and Kerry region at the moment we have the longest waiting list for home care hours in the country. Why is that the case? What mechanisms are being put in place to make...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Update on Sláintecare Reforms (Resumed) (6 Dec 2023)

Colm Burke: It is also about travel expenses. I was speaking to people in the private sector who are providing home care. There are approximately 28 private companies providing home care. Their big problem is that they have additional costs. For instance, they have to rent premises for administration and they have insurance and public liability costs. The HSE does not have the same cost base as the...