Results 281-300 of 1,054,983 for in 'Dáil debates' OR in 'Committee meetings' (speaker:Damien English OR speaker:Thomas Gould OR speaker:Brendan Howlin OR speaker:Thomas Byrne OR speaker:Seán Crowe OR speaker:Simon Harris OR speaker:Róisín Shortall OR speaker:Jackie Cahill)

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Productivity and Savings Task Force: Discussion (18 Sep 2024)

Róisín Shortall: The Department has all of the target savings across the other headings.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Productivity and Savings Task Force: Discussion (18 Sep 2024)

Róisín Shortall: I look forward to getting that information from the Department as soon as possible. The opening statements were interesting in terms of activity. I did not get a sense of where the HSE had identified areas for productivity improvements and what it was doing about those. Ms McGirr told us about activity but not productivity. Maybe there is a report somewhere which gives us that...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Productivity and Savings Task Force: Discussion (18 Sep 2024)

Róisín Shortall: That is fine. I do not get a sense that the HSE had identified areas where productivity needed to be improved. What sectors or staff categories need to be addressed? How did the HSE tackle that issue? I have a sense that it is a bit of a blur. This brings us back to the fact that it has never been possible to get a clear line of sight of health funding because the data systems were, and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Productivity and Savings Task Force: Discussion (18 Sep 2024)

Róisín Shortall: You would despair, though. It beggars belief that at this stage we do not have an integrated financial management system for a spend of €23 billion. I am not blaming the HSE for that. It should have been funded by the Department of Health and by the Department of public expenditure. I raise a question with the Department about making the case for an adequate health budget. We...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Productivity and Savings Task Force: Discussion (18 Sep 2024)

Róisín Shortall: It was a political decision that was made?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Productivity and Savings Task Force: Discussion (18 Sep 2024)

Róisín Shortall: But that was not adequate.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Productivity and Savings Task Force: Discussion (18 Sep 2024)

Róisín Shortall: It was not adequate to cover the demographic costs. Would Mr. Watt accept that?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Productivity and Savings Task Force: Discussion (18 Sep 2024)

Róisín Shortall: Did Mr. Watt put forward a specific figure to cover the demographic costs?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Productivity and Savings Task Force: Discussion (18 Sep 2024)

Róisín Shortall: Yet IFAC, which criticises the Government all the time for spending too much, said "the health allocation for 2024 [in the budget] is ... [not even] enough to cover [these] demographic and price pressures". Where was the lack of response coming from in terms of ensuring those elements were included in the budget allocation? Was the case not made strongly enough by the Department of Health...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Productivity and Savings Task Force: Discussion (18 Sep 2024)

Róisín Shortall: My final question relates to a particular area that stands out, and the witnesses have identified it themselves, where additional money going is into the hospital sector but the results are not being achieved at the other end. What specifically is the Department doing about that? There is huge money going into the hospital sector. I have put it to Mr. Watt before as to whether a "money...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Productivity and Savings Task Force: Discussion (18 Sep 2024)

Róisín Shortall: I ask Mr. O'Connor to give us an example of that, if he does not mind.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Productivity and Savings Task Force: Discussion (18 Sep 2024)

Róisín Shortall: On the part of who?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Productivity and Savings Task Force: Discussion (18 Sep 2024)

Seán Crowe: Deputy Shortall said it was the last question two questions ago.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Productivity and Savings Task Force: Discussion (18 Sep 2024)

Róisín Shortall: Is that publicly available?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Productivity and Savings Task Force: Discussion (18 Sep 2024)

Seán Crowe: Deputy Shortall will get a second round, hopefully.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Productivity and Savings Task Force: Discussion (18 Sep 2024)

Róisín Shortall: It is the last one.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Productivity and Savings Task Force: Discussion (18 Sep 2024)

Róisín Shortall: Okay. I thank Mr. O'Connor.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Productivity and Savings Task Force: Discussion (18 Sep 2024)

Seán Crowe: I will bring in Deputy Gino Kenny, after which we will have a comfort break for five minutes.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Productivity and Savings Task Force: Discussion (18 Sep 2024)

Seán Crowe: I thank Mr. Gloster. We will take Senator Maria Byrne when we return just after a comfort break.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Productivity and Savings Task Force: Discussion (18 Sep 2024)

Seán Crowe: We spoke about productivity and savings. Mr. Gloster mentioned occupational therapists, OTs. Recently, I dealt with a case of an 83-year-old man who is trying to get access to a wheelchair. He needs a referral from an OT. He received a letter stating it will take two years or more to see the OT. He was then given a leaflet about the private purchase of equipment such as rails and...