Jennifer Carroll MacNeill

I certainly will. In the first instance, I will discuss that with HSE estates. The Minister, Jack Chambers, and the Department of public expenditure and reform are as keen to develop health infrastructure as I am. The accelerated infrastructure report and the work in that is a very significant advancement in that regard. Already we are seeing different areas where we are making quicker progress th…

Not only was it done in the Mater but it was done successfully in Limerick. As the Deputy says, we have this standardised design that can be replicated and has been in other places. I will take that up with the Department of public expenditure and reform and HSE estates to try to advance it as quickly as humanly possible. There is no question but that the additional beds are necessary for Galway. …

I was very concerned about this and specifically about the management of waiting lists, particularly for spinal surgeries. Because of that, along with the former HSE CEO, I undertook an audit into equity of access and waiting list management in CHI. Recognising the challenges families have faced regarding paediatric services, we also undertook a separate qualitative piece of work to try to capture…

I reject the question of trying to present this in any particular way. I commissioned the audit because of my concerns about this. There is no question but that I was uncomfortable with what was being found overall, but specifically when I drill into those a bit more there is not a systemic problem I can see. What I did see and what I was concerned about was that less complex procedures were being…

Yes, I am a firm supporter of the public system. There is no question about that. Some 71% of our consultants in CHI are on the public-only consultant contract. However, there is also a contractual requirement to continue to provide private space for those old, type B contract holders. It is anticipated that fewer than half of the eight planned consultancy rooms will have any private clinics. The …

At a time when many waiting lists have been impacted by the ongoing trend of higher demand and increased referrals, it is wonderful to be able to report some positive progress. In Our Lady of Lourdes, at the end of May, 939 patients were waiting for an inpatient day case procedure, which is a decrease of 17% when compared with May 2025 and a 14% decrease from the start of January. More importantl…

Yes, I know. It really is excellent. I am not saying everything and every experience are perfect but it is doing enormously well. It is not just in terms of elective surgery; it has also increased its outpatient capacity by 23% and is at 100% of its endoscopy priority 1 target. That is significant activity, good management of a hospital and an enormous progression for that hospital on 18 months ag…

I have asked the regional executive officer, Sara Long, and the regional clinical director, Eamon Dolan, to do a piece of work that considers the whole region. The region is performing exceptionally well in the overall management of demand, although there is more in the community that needs to happen. In that region there is Beaumont, which is a neurology specialist centre; the Mater, which is a c…

I thank the Deputy. The Government is investing €28.5 million to expand healthcare education and training nationally, supporting over 1,100 additional training places by 2028. That includes 461 additional health and social care professions, HSCP, places across nine priority disciplines. Further expansion opportunities are being considered through the Higher Education Authority's expressions of int…

I thank Deputy Cullinane. That does sound like a plan of work but I am afraid it is a plan of work for my excellent colleague, the Minister, Deputy Lawless, and the Department of higher education. I do not wish to step across him but I can say in relation to clinical placements and training that I have met the HSE. The Minister, Deputy Lawless, and I have been working on this together, with some f…

Yes, and I will too.

I thank Deputy Cullinane and I acknowledge all of the people involved. The impact of it means people can rest easier knowing they will have the care they need at any time they need it. Of course I will discuss it with the Minister, Deputy Lawless, and of course it is collaborative. The more I think about the co-location of hospitals and medical schools, what we are trying to do in medical devices …

I thank Deputy Sherlock, who is quite right to highlight delayed transfer of care, DTOC. As she said, it has been well over 500 variously for the last period, which is essentially a hospital. This is why the use of every bed is so very important. Deputy Sherlock is correct to identify nursing home beds, community nursing units and all of the appropriate step-down facilities that are, can and shoul…

Going back a couple of days, on 6 July there were 526 delayed transfers of care. Of these, 68 involved legal complexity, 35 involved basic housing needs, 90 involved very complex clinical needs, 61 were about access to rehab facilities of various kinds, home support packages were involved in 42 cases, residential care in 217 cases and non-compliance in 13 cases. It is not just about nursing home s…

I agree with Deputy Sherlock. I recall speaking with one of the hospital managers where this is a most acute issue with regard to what is going on, what the experience is and what conversations are happening. Again, there is a question of dementia and advanced decision-making. Some of these issues are very complex and that is its own bundle. As Deputy Sherlock said, there is also the need to acces…

I thank the Deputy. The programme for Government, as the Deputy said, sets out a commitment to increase bed capacity by between 4,000 and 4,500 new and refurbished inpatient hospital beds across the country. This will be achieved through a regionally balanced capacity expansion plan. The substantially enhanced national development plan, NDP, provision for the health sector of €9.25 billion will su…

I thank the Deputy. He will not hear any complaint from me about people pressing me to deliver more health infrastructure or to spend more capital moneys. I am doing my very best to spend my entire capital allocation as quickly as possible and I run the risk of spending other people’s capital allocation, if I can be so lucky or so bold. This is because, as the Deputy said, this infrastructure inve…

I agree, particularly concerning rehab beds, step-down beds and neurorehab beds. I was in Blarney with Deputy Colm Burke to look at the neurorehab step-down beds in Mercy University Hospital. It was quite creatively done. It was a former hotel on a golf course that was acquired and redesigned for this purpose. We really are trying to be imaginative and innovative about where we can acquire space …

I propose to take Questions Nos. 96 and 98 together. The cross-border directive allows public patients to access healthcare, which they would have been entitled to access in the public healthcare service in Ireland, in another EU or EEA country. As the Deputy is aware, patients pay upfront for the treatment and are reimbursed upon their return to Ireland. We want to support patients in this way a…

I cannot speak to the specific staff numbers. I generally find it is about process change as much as staff increases, so I think it is a measure of both. I will look for an interim report, probably in October, as to how the work is going. I made the point that it is possible to change processes. For example, this time last year, I gave the Medical Council a significant challenge to sort out its ba…

I appreciate the point the Deputy is making but I am not going to make any commitments or policy on the floor of the House. I am also operating without information on the specific patients, the duration or the interest costs. I do not have any of that information but if the Deputy wants to speak to me about the matter privately, I will be happy to look at it. However, I will not make promises I ca…

I propose to take Questions Nos. 98 and 108 together. I recognise that lipoedema is a chronic and often very painful condition, which can significantly affect physical health, mobility, quality of life and psychological well-being. It is frequently under-recognised or misdiagnosed. I am very aware of the distress many women experience in seeking recognition, diagnosis and appropriate support. Dia…

I thank both Deputies. It is wonderful that so many other Deputies have joined us to hear that lipoedema affects 11% of women. It is a serious chronic disease and, as with many other conditions for women, we have to think carefully about the research available. Yesterday, we launched the third iteration of the women's health action plan. In that we talk about so many conditions that present differ…

That is terrible.

The HSE is assessing this medicine in line with the criteria detailed in legislation. It is important to say that the company which markets this medication submitted the document ten months after the health technology assessment, HTA, was commissioned by the HSE. There has been substantial delay in relation to this. We received a commercial proposal on 27 May and the drugs group is meeting in July…