Results 161-180 of 1,099,663 for in 'Dáil debates' OR (speaker:Áine Brady OR speaker:Mary Lou McDonald OR speaker:Darragh O'Brien OR speaker:Aengus Ó Snodaigh OR speaker:Aindrias Moynihan OR speaker:Leo Varadkar OR speaker:Aengus Ó Snodaigh22 OR speaker:Pádraig O'Sullivan OR speaker:Niamh Smyth OR speaker:Chris Andrews OR speaker:Danny Healy-Rae OR speaker:Jim O'Callaghan OR speaker:Cormac Devlin OR speaker:Michael Collins OR speaker:Imelda Munster OR speaker:Pádraig Mac Lochlainn OR speaker:Alan Kelly OR speaker:Aengus Ó Snodaigh29 OR speaker:Seán Canney OR speaker:Hildegarde Naughton OR speaker:Aengus Ó Snodaigh30 OR speaker:Mick Barry OR speaker:Áine Brady06 OR speaker:Maurice Quinlivan OR speaker:Aengus Ó Snodaigh15 OR speaker:Stephen Donnelly) in 'Committee meetings'
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Issues relating to University Hospital Limerick: Discussion (10 Oct 2024)
Stephen Donnelly: Thanks Chair and Deputy. If we were to launch a statutory inquiry, one of the questions we would have to be able to answer is whether the legal teams of those currently under investigation by their employer will say that those investigations have to stop. They could say that they have to be paused and they could be paused for two, four, eight or ten years. I hear the family with all of my...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Issues relating to University Hospital Limerick: Discussion (10 Oct 2024)
Stephen Donnelly: I thank Deputy Crowe. I will answer his first question first. I know he is not seeking to criticise Ian Carter.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Issues relating to University Hospital Limerick: Discussion (10 Oct 2024)
Stephen Donnelly: I understand. I have already accepted what Deputy Cullinane said. It is a fair challenge, but if I might challenge back slightly: he was not invited. I was invited, and I have come with the regional executive officer, who was not invited. I also come with three assistant secretaries who were not invited. If the committee was that keen on speaking to Ian Carter, respectfully, it should...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Issues relating to University Hospital Limerick: Discussion (10 Oct 2024)
Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Deputy very much. The first and simple answer is because the role does not exist any more. The role of hospital group chief executive does not exist. The role of CHO chief executive does not exist. This is not the same as someone being on administrative leave and simply moving from one permanent post to another. The role that the individual occupied is gone. The second...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Issues relating to University Hospital Limerick: Discussion (10 Oct 2024)
Stephen Donnelly: I am not a lawyer, but that is my suspicion.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Issues relating to University Hospital Limerick: Discussion (10 Oct 2024)
Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Deputy. I will make two quick points in response. One is that it is not a promotion. It is moving to what arguably would be seen as a smaller span of control, so I would not characterise it as a promotion. The promotion would be to Sandra Broderick's role, which is the regional executive officer role. The second point I would make is that the Deputy should not underestimate...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Issues relating to University Hospital Limerick: Discussion (10 Oct 2024)
Stephen Donnelly: Yes. We just have to be very careful about being seen to prejudice an investigation.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Issues relating to University Hospital Limerick: Discussion (10 Oct 2024)
Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Deputy. I might ask Ms Broderick to speak to that.
- 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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
Stephen Donnelly: Can I respond to that, Chair?
- 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)
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)
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)
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...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Issues relating to University Hospital Limerick: Discussion (10 Oct 2024)
Stephen Donnelly: I will have-----
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Issues relating to University Hospital Limerick: Discussion (10 Oct 2024)
Stephen Donnelly: There is definitely a distance and geography issue. I spend as much time as I can in west Clare and I know from my time there and talking to people in Ennis hospital that there is real concern at the distance. Deputy Shortall very fairly referred to HIQA. Its view was that the scale of Ennis hospital meant that it could not safely support an emergency department. That is exactly why I...