Results 301-320 of 1,115,115 for in 'Dáil debates' OR (speaker:Tom Kitt OR speaker:Réada Cronin OR speaker:Simon Coveney OR speaker:Seán Sherlock OR speaker:Denise Mitchell OR speaker:Duncan Smith OR speaker:Fergus O'Dowd OR speaker:Michael Healy-Rae OR speaker:Jackie Cahill OR speaker:Niall Collins OR speaker:Mattie McGrath OR speaker:Michael Creed OR speaker:Pádraig O'Sullivan OR speaker:Éamon Ó Cuív OR speaker:Mick Barry OR speaker:David Cullinane OR speaker:Dessie Ellis OR speaker:Pauline Tully OR speaker:Paul Donnelly OR speaker:Joe Flaherty OR speaker:Neasa Hourigan OR speaker:Stephen Donnelly OR speaker:Seán Fleming OR speaker:Violet-Anne Wynne) in 'Committee meetings'

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

David Cullinane: What we need is a workforce plan that is aligned with recruitment, if we are training healthcare professionals. That is why we have training targets. We are training them to come to work in the public system. Every graduate should be offered a job in the public system. That is not runaway recruitment. It is common sense. If the Minister is able to furnish figures for vacancies that were...

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

Stephen Donnelly: To be clear, for funded vacant posts, the budget has funded an extra 3,500 posts for next year. This year, there are approximately 3,000 funded vacant posts. Between now and the end of next year, there will be approximately 6,500 fully funded vacant posts.

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

Stephen Donnelly: It is very disappointing. I absolutely acknowledge that there are teams. There are community-based teams in primary care, for example, and teams in our hospitals, where they really are under pressure. There were vacancies in their teams through the embargo and they no longer have sanction to immediately hire into those. However, as envisaged under Sláintecare, we are pushing...

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

Stephen Donnelly: There is a lot of data. There is the health service performance assessment, which is an online tool that went up earlier this year. It shows a lot of comparative information in terms of how-----

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

Stephen Donnelly: If the Deputy searches for "HSPA" or "health service performance assessment tool", he will get it. There is a lot of information there. The short version of it is, looking at western Europe, which really is our comparative group, in some areas, we are around average but getting better, we are below average in some areas, and we are doing really well in some areas. In areas like women's...

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

Stephen Donnelly: I might ask Mr. McGlynn to respond to that question. We certainly can get the Deputy a more detailed note. My officials have asked for a minute to confer on the Deputy's question.

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

Stephen Donnelly: I agree with the Deputy that there is probably nothing to be served by going back over this matter. It was a fairly well ventilated budget discussion last year. The settlement this year is significant, with €1.5 billion for ELS this year, €1.2 billion for next year and €900 million for one-off to core. Critically, as well as that, there is now a very clear workforce...

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

Stephen Donnelly: It did, yes.

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

Stephen Donnelly: I will talk to the chief nurse about that. The very clear advice I have from the Department is that the figure of 2,000 additional nurses is what is required for phase 1 and phase 2, that is, all the medical and surgical wards and the emergency departments. I am advised that 1,500 of those are in situ and another 500, which are fully funded, are to be hired. If there are additional issues...

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

Stephen Donnelly: No problem at all. If that does prove to be the case, and if it were the case that 2,000 needs to be 2,150 or whatever that might be, we will do that.

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

Stephen Donnelly: Which is the framework.

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

Stephen Donnelly: I agree. If I could add one point, all of us listening to some of the narrative would be forgiven for thinking that we have a deficit of nurses in the country. In fact, the OECD figures show that we have the second highest level of nurses per head of population of anywhere in Europe. The safe staffing framework is seen around the world now as one of the highest levels of staffing.

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

Stephen Donnelly: Sure.

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

Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Deputy. I agree with much of what she said. We do urgently need more radiation therapists. I have funded more roles, including advanced practice roles in the budget and, critically to your point on the training co-ordinators, I have allocated funding for that as well.

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

Stephen Donnelly: I have allocated funding in the budget for exactly the posts the Deputy is are talking about.

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

Stephen Donnelly: The funding is allocated now on the basis that it takes time to hire. They can essentially get on and start recruiting them now. There was an ask in from the university that was completely over the top. Had a reasonable ask been made, it would have been sorted much quicker. The ask was to move from half a whole-time equivalent to six and a half whole-time equivalents for what was about a...

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

Stephen Donnelly: My understanding is that the figure is at three. I think that is where we have come to. I have allocated funding for the specialist trainee roles as well.

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

Stephen Donnelly: In some areas, yes. Some outsourcing, if one could call it that, works very well, such as with GPs, pharmacies and so forth. We are all happy with that. From an ideological perspective, my view is that core services within the HSE should be delivered by it. The Minister of State, Deputy Butler, may speak to it, but neither she nor I are happy with the percentage of private nursing home...

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

Stephen Donnelly: What does the Deputy mean by "separate budgets"?

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

Stephen Donnelly: The way the budget will be reported-----