Results 161-180 of 1,183,244 for in 'Dáil debates' OR (speaker:Damien English OR speaker:Ruairi Ó Murchú OR speaker:Catherine Murphy OR speaker:Mary Lou McDonald OR speaker:Mairead Farrell OR speaker:Neale Richmond OR speaker:Duncan Smith OR speaker:Hildegarde Naughton OR speaker:Thomas Pringle OR speaker:John McGuinness OR speaker:Róisín Shortall OR speaker:Eamon Ryan OR speaker:Kieran O'Donnell OR speaker:Mark Ward OR speaker:Darren O'Rourke OR speaker:Robert Troy OR speaker:Éamon Ó Cuív OR speaker:Joe O'Brien OR speaker:Seán Fleming OR speaker:Cathal Crowe OR speaker:Matt Carthy OR speaker:Brian Leddin OR speaker:Gerald Nash OR speaker:Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire OR speaker:Mattie McGrath OR speaker:Stephen Donnelly OR speaker:Micheál Martin OR speaker:Brian Stanley) in 'Committee meetings'
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Issues relating to University Hospital Limerick: Discussion (10 Oct 2024)
Stephen Donnelly: The short answer is that I agree with the Deputy. I agree with the Sláintecare recommendation. I agree with her point when it comes to the health service and the wider public sector. It is something that should be considered in the next programme for Government, whoever may be putting that together. Again, I am not an employment lawyer, but I have learned more about it over the past...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Issues relating to University Hospital Limerick: Discussion (10 Oct 2024)
Róisín Shortall: Okay-----
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Issues relating to University Hospital Limerick: Discussion (10 Oct 2024)
Stephen Donnelly: Finally, we have sought to address it within employment law within the new public-only consultant contract, which does contain more provisions around performance management and accountability.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Issues relating to University Hospital Limerick: Discussion (10 Oct 2024)
Róisín Shortall: What the Minister is saying is welcome, but does that also apply to clinical directors? There is somewhat of a grey area around their roles in terms of responsibility.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Issues relating to University Hospital Limerick: Discussion (10 Oct 2024)
Stephen Donnelly: Yes, I could not agree more. The clinical director role does not do what most of us think it was meant to do, which is to performance manage. Obviously, we champion patient safety, but within that we must make sure the clinical teams within the organisations are operating to the best extent possible. There are some clinical directors who do that.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Issues relating to University Hospital Limerick: Discussion (10 Oct 2024)
Róisín Shortall: Okay, well-----
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Issues relating to University Hospital Limerick: Discussion (10 Oct 2024)
Stephen Donnelly: I apologise for interrupting. What I can tell the Deputy is that in the context of the new clinical director role, there is a significant focus on exactly the point she is making.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Issues relating to University Hospital Limerick: Discussion (10 Oct 2024)
Róisín Shortall: If that is the Minister's view, I suggest that he might give consideration to reinstating the reporting arrangements for clinical directors because they have essentially been abandoned. In the context of accountability and the management structure, the Minister spoke to us about Ms Broderick, Mr. Carter and Dr. Peters. What exactly is that structure?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Issues relating to University Hospital Limerick: Discussion (10 Oct 2024)
Stephen Donnelly: If it is okay, I will ask Ms Broderick to speak to that.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Issues relating to University Hospital Limerick: Discussion (10 Oct 2024)
Róisín Shortall: Just to clarify, they are all reporting directly to Ms Broderick.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Issues relating to University Hospital Limerick: Discussion (10 Oct 2024)
Róisín Shortall: That is good. I thank Ms Broderick for that. The other two areas of accountability obviously relate to the two areas identified in Mr. Justice Frank Clarke's report, one of which was the completely inadequate capacity within the mid-west region in terms of emergency department, ED, capacity. That has to be a matter of political accountability. One does have to wonder about the original...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Issues relating to University Hospital Limerick: Discussion (10 Oct 2024)
Stephen Donnelly: Can I respond to that, Chair?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Issues relating to University Hospital Limerick: Discussion (10 Oct 2024)
Róisín Shortall: Okay.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Issues relating to University Hospital Limerick: Discussion (10 Oct 2024)
Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Deputy for that. I am more than happy to take responsibility, obviously, but in the interest of fairness, when I was appointed, there were approximately 400 beds in UHL. We have added 118. There are 16 more that are going to open this year, 96 more in quarter 2 of next year, another 96 after that - they are under construction - and a further 84. I am more than happy to take...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Issues relating to University Hospital Limerick: Discussion (10 Oct 2024)
Róisín Shortall: The recommendation was that the other three EDs should not close until we had reached a level beyond 600 beds in UHL. That has been the problem, notwithstanding recent improvements as regards the number of beds. That is a fundamental point. Those three emergency departments should not have been closed. It is quite clear that was the original intention. I have been raising the issue for...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Issues relating to University Hospital Limerick: Discussion (10 Oct 2024)
Stephen Donnelly: Obviously, I have taken action on it but in fairness, the Deputy's question is why now? It is because we were in the middle of adding the greatest number of-----
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Issues relating to University Hospital Limerick: Discussion (10 Oct 2024)
Róisín Shortall: I am sorry; the action was that the Minister would open a second ED. He would designate one of the other hospitals as a level 3 hospital and have an ED.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Issues relating to University Hospital Limerick: Discussion (10 Oct 2024)
Stephen Donnelly: Yes, that is right, and I have asked the same group, HIQA, to now come back and do a thorough analysis and if that is the case, report back on where it would go and would it be attached-----
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Issues relating to University Hospital Limerick: Discussion (10 Oct 2024)
Róisín Shortall: Why did the Minister not act on the recommendation two and a half years ago?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Issues relating to University Hospital Limerick: Discussion (10 Oct 2024)
Stephen Donnelly: That is exactly the way I was characterising the Deputy's question. It is because two and a half years ago, we were in the middle of a massive expansion of capacity in the mid-west, not just in UHL and the other regional hospitals but in the community. We have opened five primary care centres and a lot more. This time last year, the emergency department situation in UHL was moving in the...