Results 21-40 of 1,085,546 for in 'Dáil debates' OR (speaker:Máiría Cahill OR speaker:Dara Calleary OR speaker:Matt Shanahan OR speaker:Aindrias Moynihan OR speaker:James Browne OR speaker:Thomas Gould OR speaker:Catherine Martin OR speaker:Ossian Smyth OR speaker:Seán Sherlock OR speaker:Joe Flaherty OR speaker:Duncan Smith OR speaker:Stephen Donnelly OR speaker:Paul Donnelly OR speaker:Peadar Tóibín OR speaker:James O'Connor OR speaker:Pauline Tully OR speaker:Micheál Martin OR speaker:Marian Harkin OR speaker:Patricia Ryan OR speaker:Michael Fitzmaurice OR speaker:Pat Buckley OR speaker:Cian O'Callaghan OR speaker:Rose Conway-Walsh OR speaker:Brian Leddin OR speaker:Darragh O'Brien OR speaker:Seán Crowe OR speaker:Pippa Hackett OR speaker:Aengus Ó Snodaigh) in 'Committee meetings'

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

Stephen Donnelly: -----absolutely accept that.

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

Stephen Donnelly: The point is there are thousands more posts now than there were. What can be done? Hospital managers and regional executive officers can redeploy. Ultimately, there are thousands more posts today than there were this time last year. We are talking about an overrun of €1.7 billion. We have to get away from a world where individual hospitals, and it is mainly the hospitals rather...

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"?