Results 281-300 of 1,099,508 for in 'Dáil debates' OR in 'Committee meetings' (speaker:Tom Kitt OR speaker:David Stanton OR speaker:Ivana Bacik OR speaker:Johnny Guirke OR speaker:Seán Sherlock OR speaker:Jennifer Carroll MacNeill OR speaker:Willie O'Dea OR speaker:Seán Crowe OR speaker:Patrick O'Donovan OR speaker:Pádraig Mac Lochlainn OR speaker:Colm Brophy OR speaker:Peadar Tóibín OR speaker:Michael McNamara OR speaker:Mairead Farrell OR speaker:Chris Andrews OR speaker:Matt Carthy OR speaker:Brendan Griffin OR speaker:Éamon Ó Cuív OR speaker:Éamon Ó Cuív98 OR speaker:Mattie McGrath OR speaker:Maurice Quinlivan OR speaker:Richard Boyd Barrett OR speaker:Gary Gannon OR speaker:Chris Andrews7 OR speaker:Catherine Martin OR speaker:Jim O'Callaghan OR speaker:Frank Feighan)

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (16 Oct 2024)

Róisín Shortall: There is a tendency on the Minister's part to talk about how many additional staff have been provided. That is one way of looking at it, but it is also about what the base rate was like and whether that additional staffing brings the numbers up to an acceptable level.

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (16 Oct 2024)

Róisín Shortall: It is getting the full picture through the lens of the safe staffing agreements. That is what I want.

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (16 Oct 2024)

Róisín Shortall: I would just like to see the figures.

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (16 Oct 2024)

Róisín Shortall: This is heavily disputed. That is why we need to see the facts of the matter. The other point you made on efficiency and so on was to fully utilise the expensive equipment we have. There are many issues around that. I want to raise specifically the issue of radiation therapists. I have raised this umpteen times by way of parliamentary questions. It is claimed by SIPTU in particular that...

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (16 Oct 2024)

Róisín Shortall: I am sorry, I did not catch that.

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (16 Oct 2024)

Róisín Shortall: When will they be appointed? That is next year.

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (16 Oct 2024)

Róisín Shortall: Has that figure been agreed now?

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (16 Oct 2024)

Róisín Shortall: I want to go back to the issue of outsourcing. The latter is currently rampant across the health and social care service. I am concerned that we could reach a tipping point with this. So many services, particularly in social care, are outsourced. We have got all of the private nursing homes, something like 80% of home care staff. We are increasingly outsourcing other diagnostics and...

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (16 Oct 2024)

Róisín Shortall: That is fine, but the problem is that if we continue in that vein, we create a strong incentive for staff to work in the private sector instead of the public sector. The private sector becomes the place where the jobs are available. Many things need to be looked at with regard to the speed, or lack of speed, in recruitment processes, centralised recruitment in the HSE and all of that kind...

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (16 Oct 2024)

Róisín Shortall: I am asking about individual, tailored budgets for the operation of each RHA, which is the eventual aim. When will that begin?

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (16 Oct 2024)

Róisín Shortall: So there is discretion.

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (16 Oct 2024)

Róisín Shortall: The profile of the RHAs obviously has to be complete to do that fully.

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (16 Oct 2024)

Róisín Shortall: That is happening.

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (16 Oct 2024)

Róisín Shortall: The Minister of State indicated that earlier in the year and it is very welcome. I hope other parts of the health service emulate that. Please excuse me as I have to speak in the Chamber. I am sorry.

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (16 Oct 2024)

Seán Crowe: I have a couple questions. I will walk through the Minister’s opening statement. He mentioned an additional €5 million for capital expenditure. Can he give us a flavour of what is involved?

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (16 Oct 2024)

Seán Crowe: Yes, he mentioned that later on. He also raised some of the key drivers of the supplementary budget. The Minister said that 60% of the Supplementary Estimate is required for pay costs, excluding pension costs. He mentioned “staffing roles that had previously been provided from temporary Covid funds along with funding for staff hired in excess of funded levels of recruitment”....

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (16 Oct 2024)

Seán Crowe: I am trying to get at the nub of why. The Minister also mentioned “higher agency, overtime and staff allowances due to increased level of demand, especially in acute settings”. He is saying that the people who came in from the Covid funds who were working in the system are needed in the health system.

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (16 Oct 2024)

Seán Crowe: The impression at one stage was that people were being hired willy-nilly and there was no real need for those staff. The Minister is saying that the Covid staff are needed. There was a recruitment embargo and we all get that you cannot just hire staff. However, I do not think that anyone is saying that these staff are not needed within the health system. Are there any staff that the...

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (16 Oct 2024)

Seán Crowe: We need to be much more focused on who we hire. Is that what the Minister is saying?

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (16 Oct 2024)

Seán Crowe: Again, staff are needed. We had witnesses in the committee. We heard about the radiologists. We have machines sitting there, lying idle, that would be able to be used. That is just one example, but we have been given other examples over the years related to staff. People are waiting on waiting lists. Last night disability was talked about, for instance. Some 4,000 children are waiting...