Results 361-380 of 1,039,829 for in 'Dáil debates' OR in 'Committee meetings' (speaker:Tom Kitt OR speaker:Róisín Shortall OR speaker:Robert Troy OR speaker:Neale Richmond OR speaker:Pauline Tully OR speaker:Darren O'Rourke)

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: But that was not adequate.

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)

Róisín Shortall: Is that publicly available?

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)

Róisín Shortall: Ten minutes.

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

Róisín Shortall: I raised the HSCP issue with Mr. Gloster at the break. I endorse the campaign that is under way at the moment. We had a situation in the Department where it was doctors who were represented on management and we had a battle to get nurses represented and to have a director of nursing. Then we had a battle to get HSCPs represented in management in the Department. Finally, that was achieved....

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

Róisín Shortall: Does Ms Kenna have a ballpark figure on that?

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

Róisín Shortall: I would appreciate that because not only are some existing nurses looking for additional hours but a number of nurses who were on career break are finding it difficult to get taken back in, although they were guaranteed they could return to their job. Again, that is very hard to understand in the context of so many agency staff.

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

Róisín Shortall: Okay.

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

Róisín Shortall: It seems to be an issue.

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

Róisín Shortall: Mr. Gloster spoke earlier about utilising equipment, operating theatres and so on to the max. When we compare what is happening in the HSE with the private sector, there is a significant amount of unused time in the week, and that is not even going into the night-time. It does not make sense from a productivity perspective to have expensive equipment lying idle. Has Mr. Gloster looked at...

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

Róisín Shortall: Most of the unions support the principle of a four-day week. It can be very attractive for staff.

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

Róisín Shortall: I join the Cathaoirleach in thanking Ray Mitchell for all of his work in supporting the committee and supporting Oireachtas Members generally. I wish him very well in his future endeavours. I thank the witnesses for coming before the committee and for their presentations. Does the productivity and savings task force include the area of value for money specifically? It is strange that it...