Results 1,101-1,120 of 1,157,792 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:Catherine Martin OR speaker:Cian O'Callaghan OR speaker:Peter Fitzpatrick OR speaker:Micheál Martin OR speaker:Jennifer Carroll MacNeill OR speaker:Danny Healy-Rae OR speaker:Rose Conway-Walsh OR speaker:Éamon Ó Cuív88 OR speaker:Michael Lowry OR speaker:Éamon Ó Cuív06 OR speaker:Peadar Tóibín OR speaker:Éamon Ó Cuív15 OR speaker:Cathal Berry OR speaker:Brian Stanley OR speaker:Ruairi Ó Murchú OR speaker:Ivana Bacik OR speaker:Claire Kerrane) in 'Committee meetings'

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Issues and Challenges relating to Cardiology: Irish Cardiac Society (23 Oct 2024)

Neasa Hourigan: I think we would all like to see more North-South co-operation. I will move now to the issue of waiting lists. We are dealing with significantly different cohorts across multiple waiting lists. Some people have been referred by a GP, for example, and then we have some people who are experiencing a very specific health crisis. We have talked about it being a matter of days in some cases...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Issues and Challenges relating to Cardiology: Irish Cardiac Society (23 Oct 2024)

Neasa Hourigan: Are there waiting lists for cardiac rehabilitation?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Issues and Challenges relating to Cardiology: Irish Cardiac Society (23 Oct 2024)

Neasa Hourigan: How is that possible? I acknowledge Professor McAdam has said that staff levels have dropped by two thirds, which seems extraordinary.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Issues and Challenges relating to Cardiology: Irish Cardiac Society (23 Oct 2024)

Neasa Hourigan: With resulting negative impacts on outcomes, I am sure. Regarding the review of cardiac services, in December 2023, the Minister said it was being published in the new year so we are well over time to put a bit of pressure on there.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Staffing Levels in the HSE: Fórsa (23 Oct 2024)

David Cullinane: The witnesses are very welcome and I thank them for their opening statement. I ask them to clear up some confusion in this area. Anyone listening to this discussion in recent months will have seen a lot of smoke and mirrors. On the one hand, the Minister for Health has been telling us we have never had it so good with all of this recruitment that we have seen over the last number of years,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Staffing Levels in the HSE: Fórsa (23 Oct 2024)

David Cullinane: When the Minister for Health was before the committee last week I put it to him that if he disputed the figures from the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, SIPTU, Fórsa or any other organisation on suppressed, lost or decommissioned posts, he should provide the real number and I did not get an answer. Is the lack of an answer because the data is not being captured or does the HSE...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Staffing Levels in the HSE: Fórsa (23 Oct 2024)

David Cullinane: I accept that. Ms Connolly spoke about a lack of transparency about the data underpinning the pay and numbers strategy and the other healthcare trade unions have made a similar point. She made another important point, which should be noted, that HSE HR was directed to essentially switch off the vacancies on the SAP payroll system. If vacant posts are switched off and gone, is the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Staffing Levels in the HSE: Fórsa (23 Oct 2024)

David Cullinane: Are these posts that were marked as vacant on the HSE's SAP payroll system?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Staffing Levels in the HSE: Fórsa (23 Oct 2024)

David Cullinane: They have just vanished.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Staffing Levels in the HSE: Fórsa (23 Oct 2024)

David Cullinane: Yes. I wish to come back to the concluding remarks in Fórsa's opening statement. Before I do that, another important point was made when it was said that we should not conflate new development posts with core service delivery, the replacement of staff, staff turnover, etc. From what was said, I am assuming that the Minister quite rightly is saying there is recruitment and that the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Staffing Levels in the HSE: Fórsa (23 Oct 2024)

David Cullinane: Fórsa is asking that the Minister and the Government, or at least the HSE anyway, would negotiate with Fórsa and other healthcare trade unions on the pay and numbers strategy, which makes sense, have a workforce plan, which makes sense as well, and deal with safe staffing levels. Another observation I will make is that it is very odd and bizarre that we train so many healthcare...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Staffing Levels in the HSE: Fórsa (23 Oct 2024)

David Cullinane: It has more than doubled.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Staffing Levels in the HSE: Fórsa (23 Oct 2024)

Neasa Hourigan: I had intended to ask about what kind of engagement Fórsa has had with the productivity and savings group. For clarity, has Fórsa never been invited to make a submission to it? I know the group has had ten meetings, or at least it has issued the minutes of ten meetings. Has the union never been asked for data on the people it represents?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Staffing Levels in the HSE: Fórsa (23 Oct 2024)

Neasa Hourigan: That is a missed opportunity.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Staffing Levels in the HSE: Fórsa (23 Oct 2024)

Neasa Hourigan: Continuing on the issue of agency staff, I have put a question about this at a number of recent sessions. It is not so much the agency staff who might cover for maternity or sick leave but agency staff who are in effectively full-time, long-term roles. A significant proportion of an outpatient team, for example, might be agency staff. The answers I got indicated the HSE is now undertaking...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Staffing Levels in the HSE: Fórsa (23 Oct 2024)

Neasa Hourigan: To be clear, those job advertisements are going up-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Staffing Levels in the HSE: Fórsa (23 Oct 2024)

Neasa Hourigan: In Ms Connolly’s estimation, is the number of those advertisements increasing?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Staffing Levels in the HSE: Fórsa (23 Oct 2024)

Neasa Hourigan: That is where I was heading with the question. Some of those 10,000 agency workers are in genuine posts of one, three or four weeks and filling a gap that does not lend itself to long-term employment, but in Ms Connolly’s estimation from working with people in the sector, what percentage of the 10,000 agency workers should we look to convert to full-time staff?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Staffing Levels in the HSE: Fórsa (23 Oct 2024)

Neasa Hourigan: I am trying to make up some time for the Chair, so I will just ask one more question.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Staffing Levels in the HSE: Fórsa (23 Oct 2024)

Neasa Hourigan: I appreciate that point. This committee often discusses the cost to the service, but there is also a personal cost to the workers, who do not enjoy the same rights as the people working beside them in the same jobs. Now that we have technically ended the embargo and are discussing staff ceilings, what is the witnesses’ understanding of the difference between one and the other?