Results 21-40 of 1,079,570 for in 'Dáil debates' OR (speaker:Tom Kitt OR speaker:Róisín Shortall OR speaker:Jennifer Murnane O'Connor OR speaker:Stephen Donnelly OR speaker:Brendan Griffin OR speaker:Verona Murphy OR speaker:Michael Collins OR speaker:Noel Grealish OR speaker:Thomas Byrne OR speaker:Ivana Bacik OR speaker:Damien English OR speaker:Michael Fitzmaurice OR speaker:Hildegarde Naughton OR speaker:Alan Farrell OR speaker:Aodhán Ó Ríordáin OR speaker:Darragh O'Brien OR speaker:Seán Haughey OR speaker:Sorca Clarke OR speaker:Jack Chambers OR speaker:James Browne OR speaker:Patricia Ryan OR speaker:Norma Foley OR speaker:Michael Ring) in 'Committee meetings'

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)

Róisín Shortall: I welcome all the attendees. The Minister of State, Deputy Butler, mentioned there are 400 fewer people in nursing homes under the fair deal scheme. That is a really welcome figure. It is the first time I have heard it. I hope that trend will continue. The Minister referenced in his opening statement the demographic changes, which are very significant in terms of population size and...

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)

Róisín Shortall: That did result in a recruitment freeze, however.

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)

Róisín Shortall: There is a great deal of inaccurate information being thrown around on all sides. I am not saying it is inaccurate, but confusing information and claims being made from all sides in respect of this. I would not say for a moment that hospitals should be allowed to recruit as many staff; that would be ridiculous. They were allowed to do that in the past and there were serious problems as a...

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)

Róisín Shortall: That is fine and it sounds like a plausible explanation. There are claims that you have not recalibrated the numbers for safe staffing based on a reduced working week. I am not expecting the Minister to have that detail today but I would ask him to provide a note on it, specifically on the recalibration.

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)

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)

Stephen Donnelly: Which is the framework.

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)

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)

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)

Stephen Donnelly: Sure.

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)

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)

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