Results 1-20 of 1,109,030 for in 'Dáil debates' OR in 'Committee meetings' (speaker:Eamon Scanlon OR speaker:Joan Burton OR speaker:Marc Ó Cathasaigh OR speaker:Imelda Munster OR speaker:Joan Burton0 OR speaker:Patrick O'Donovan OR speaker:Cathal Crowe OR speaker:James Browne OR speaker:Pat Buckley OR speaker:Michael McGrath OR speaker:Denis Naughten OR speaker:Gerald Nash OR speaker:Seán Haughey OR speaker:Damien English OR speaker:Charlie McConalogue OR speaker:Paul McAuliffe OR speaker:Michael Lowry OR speaker:Michael Ring OR speaker:Thomas Pringle OR speaker:Holly Cairns OR speaker:Colm Burke OR speaker:Norma Foley OR speaker:Louise O'Reilly OR speaker:Mark Ward OR speaker:Johnny Mythen OR speaker:Matt Carthy OR speaker:James O'Connor OR speaker:Steven Matthews OR speaker:Emer Higgins OR speaker:Ivana Bacik OR speaker:Michael Collins OR speaker:Mary Butler OR speaker:Seán Crowe OR speaker:Micheál Martin)

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

Seán Crowe: The meeting has been convened to consider the 2024 Supplementary Estimate for Vote 38 for the Department of Health, amounting to €1.749 billion for current expenditure and €5 million for capital expenditure. I welcome the Minister for Health, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, and the Minister of State at the Department of Health, Deputy Colm Burke, who is a former member of the...

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

Seán Crowe: Okay.

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

Seán Crowe: The Minister spoke of subhead J1. Maybe it is the language he is using but it is not very clear. I am conscious people are probably listening at home as well. Maybe other members understand it. The Minister stated: While there are deficits across a range of core services, most of the supplementary ask, €1.544 billion, relates to acute hospitals. These deficits in core services...

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

Seán Crowe: It is a bit unclear but I will the discussion open up to members. I think Deputy Durkan is leading us off.

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

Mary Butler: The Deputy is right that we have an ageing population, but we are also living longer. We have one of the highest life expectancies in the EU, as deemed by the World Health Organization, with women reaching 84 years of age and men reaching 82.5.

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

Mary Butler: Yes, in the EU 27, as deemed by the World Health Organization. A really interesting statistic is that we have 400 fewer people in nursing homes under the fair deal scheme this year than we had in 2019. This shows that the investment in home care, day care and meals-on-wheels services is working. When Sláintecare was being devised, it was estimated that we would need 30,000 fair deal...

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

Mary Butler: I wish to come in on community beds. In next year’s budget, there will be an additional 174 community beds. I asked the HSE, when we were going through the CNUs, that instead of just replacing the beds, we start turning the dial. For example, in Clonmel CNU, 50 beds will be provided, of which 32 are additional. In St. Columba’s in Thomastown, there will be 95 beds, of which...

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

Seán Crowe: I have a couple questions. I will walk through the Minister’s opening statement. He mentioned an additional €5 million for capital expenditure. Can he give us a flavour of what is involved?

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

Seán Crowe: Yes, he mentioned that later on. He also raised some of the key drivers of the supplementary budget. The Minister said that 60% of the Supplementary Estimate is required for pay costs, excluding pension costs. He mentioned “staffing roles that had previously been provided from temporary Covid funds along with funding for staff hired in excess of funded levels of recruitment”....

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

Seán Crowe: I am trying to get at the nub of why. The Minister also mentioned “higher agency, overtime and staff allowances due to increased level of demand, especially in acute settings”. He is saying that the people who came in from the Covid funds who were working in the system are needed in the health system.

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

Seán Crowe: The impression at one stage was that people were being hired willy-nilly and there was no real need for those staff. The Minister is saying that the Covid staff are needed. There was a recruitment embargo and we all get that you cannot just hire staff. However, I do not think that anyone is saying that these staff are not needed within the health system. Are there any staff that the...

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

Seán Crowe: We need to be much more focused on who we hire. Is that what the Minister is saying?

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

Seán Crowe: Again, staff are needed. We had witnesses in the committee. We heard about the radiologists. We have machines sitting there, lying idle, that would be able to be used. That is just one example, but we have been given other examples over the years related to staff. People are waiting on waiting lists. Last night disability was talked about, for instance. Some 4,000 children are waiting...

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

Seán Crowe: Yes.

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

Mary Butler: Could I come in briefly on two things we have done as regards older people that have made a big difference? Earlier this year we completed the nationwide roll-out of mobile X-rays to people in nursing homes. It makes no difference which nursing home you are in - public, private or voluntary. We started on a pilot project but we have used it across the whole country now over 10,000 times....

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

Seán Crowe: Deputy Gino Kenny is looking to come in online.

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

Colm Burke: The additional funding in budget 2025 is €4.2 million. An additional 34 whole-time-equivalents will be employed. Some €2 million will be allocated to expand community-based drug services. Some €1 million will be allocated for the national roll-out of the community alcohol service, and that includes the employment of 24 whole-time equivalents. There is €500,000...

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

Colm Burke: There is a substantial increase in the overall budget for 2025. It is going to be the biggest budget ever in real terms. I will get the correct figure for the Deputy but the increase in total is the biggest figure. For instance, the total increase in funding is €40.5 million for the coming year. There is a €10.1 million increase for pay awards agreements. Some €5...

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

Colm Burke: As the Deputy knows, we hope to have the supervised injection facility in Merchants Quay opened by the end of the year. I have been there and I have seen the progress being made in the building work. The target is to have it opened by early to mid-December. That is a really important facility that needs to be open. As the Deputy knows, the initial proposal on that was going back to 2019....

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

Mary Butler: I will come in there as it is something that overlaps both our briefs. As the Deputy would know, in 2023, I launched the clinical programme for dual diagnosis, which supports service users who present with mental health and a substance use disorder. In the mental health budget, there were 210 new whole-time equivalents. Ten of those posts are specifically for dual diagnosis to start up two...