Results 1-20 of 1,122,106 for in 'Dáil debates' OR in 'Committee meetings' (speaker:Violet-Anne Wynne OR speaker:Cathal Crowe OR speaker:Mattie McGrath OR speaker:Jack Chambers OR speaker:Alan Dillon OR speaker:Holly Cairns OR speaker:Sorca Clarke OR speaker:Martin Browne OR speaker:Matt Shanahan OR speaker:Brian Stanley OR speaker:Michael Healy-Rae OR speaker:Seán Crowe OR speaker:Joan Collins OR speaker:Brendan Howlin OR speaker:Seán Fleming OR speaker:Catherine Connolly OR speaker:Joe O'Brien OR speaker:James Browne OR speaker:Chris Andrews OR speaker:Patricia Ryan OR speaker:Mary Butler OR speaker:Verona Murphy OR speaker:Charlie McConalogue)

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)

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...

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

Seán Crowe: We will resume. Deputy Róisín Shortall has indicated she wishes to speak.

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

Mary Butler: I am seeing the structures changing. I would have always dealt with the head of older persons, the head of mental health and the head of disabilities across each area. They have changed now already. There is a new integrated healthcare area, IHA. Our area, which was CHO 5 and CHO 6 combined, is now called Dublin and South East. There are now three IHAs there and they have broken up the...

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

Seán Crowe: On the same issue, it relates to the supplementary budget but the Minister of State spoke about additional money being put forward. It is a drop in the ocean. My local task force, which I have been a member of practically since it was established, looked for an additional €1 million-plus for the roll-out of services. That was for community engagement with young people who were at...