We are investing further into the scheme. The Deputy will also be aware from the budget that I have allocated funding for a national service now for early years oral health dental intervention for children, which will make a big difference. This is not to detract from the very real problems that patients with medical cards are having in trying to access services. We are aware of it and are allocating more and more money into the services, but at the moment many dentists are simply making more money from private pra…

The Department and the HSE are aware of various reports coming in from pharmacists. It is a matter they are looking at and taking seriously. It is kept under constant observation. I have not yet received reports from the Department around concerns at a national level regarding drugs but I am hearing exactly what the Deputy raised. I will raise the issue again with the Department today.

The Deputy does not want a balanced debate at all.

The Government agreed yesterday that the formal transfer of functions will happen on 1 March 2023. The Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Deputy O'Gorman, will be the lead for all disability services. I can assure the Deputy that right across Government the pressing issues are being addressed, particularly in areas such as children's disability services. Given the fact that waiting lists have gone up since the court ruling on assessment of need happened, it is a top priority. There …

As the Deputy will be aware, we have allocated very significant funding in the budget for a national network of clinics to treat long Covid. It is a priority and I and the Government recognise that it is an area in which more and more investment is needed. I raised the issue of the clinic in the Mater directly with the HSE. The decision to close the clinic was not a political decision, as the Deputy will be aware, and I acknowledge he is not suggesting that. It was based on the clinical view of the HSE with regard …

I am more than happy to chase that up. Many hospitals have arrangements whereby patients coming in for serious treatment get a card to avoid car parking charges entirely. It is different for different hospitals but if the Deputy sends me the details I will look into it. An important measure brought in for the budget for next year, which was warmly welcomed and advocated for by the Irish Cancer Society, was the abolition of inpatient charges. Many cancer patients face bills. Not only are they dealing with the stress…

I move amendment No. 1: To delete all words after "Dáil Éireann" and substitute the following: "recognises: — the invaluable work carried out by our health and social care workers in providing health services to patients; — that record funding has been provided to permanently increase capacity in our health service, and this year's budget is €22.2 billion (2022), up from €14.8 billion in 2018; — emergency departments (EDs) are currently experiencing significantly increased demand due to a combination of factors inc…

We have addressed recruitment, but the motion refers to emergency departments as well. It is not credible to talk about emergency departments pressures without referring to Covid. Combining the numbers for Covid, flu and RSV about a week ago, there were about 800 patients involved. We are seeing significant increases. There are things we can do and are doing. On vaccines, for example, I was happy to see that new reporting from the ECDC shows that, as of 2 December, Ireland has the highest uptake of vaccines for the…

I was there recently and was really impressed by the management team and the clinical team. This Saturday, University Hospital Waterford will have gone 1,000 days without having a single patient on a trolley.

It is down to good management. It is down to excellent leadership by management and by some of the consultant teams. They have some of the resources they need. In Waterford hospital, the outpatient list has come down by more than 20% in the past year. Over the past two years, it has added more than 200 staff and opened a see and treat gynaecology clinic. Last November, there were women waiting more than two years for gynaecology appointments. In Waterford, that has gone from 24 months to nine. It continues to fall.…

I will give the Deputy a brief to the side, if that is helpful. It is not part of the motion, but I am happy to talk about it.

I did not say that. I do not know what version of the speech the Deputy has.

I thank the Deputy for his question. The 2022 waiting list plan is part of a multi-annual approach to reduce waiting times. Most importantly, it focuses in the first instance on long waiters to meet the Sláintecare targets. We now have three-year waiting list plans. A great deal of effort was made on waiting lists in the last quarter of 2021, which resulted in a reduction of 5% in the lists. It was a successful activity. That effort transferred into the €350 million waiting list plan for this year, which mainly foc…

I agree with the Deputy's first point, in that we need a single consolidated waiting list view. Among other measures, we need electronic patient records to achieve this. Many patients are on many different waiting lists and they all get counted as individual patients. We are making a significant investment in e-health and electronic patient records. I acknowledge the Deputy's support for the consultant contract. This morning, I heard the public contributions he made yesterday. I thank him and his party. I acknowled…

I agree with all the Deputy's comments. We want to run our existing theatres, diagnostic suites and outpatient clinics for longer so that consultants and their patients can get more access to our current resources. As he correctly stated, this will require more theatre nurses, administrative support and technicians. We can get much more for patients out of our current capacity, which is why the new contract will gradually double the time available to them. That said, we also need a great deal more new capacity. Yes…

I thank the Deputy for raising this. We agree. I am keen that all pay adjustments due under Building Momentum are paid to HSE and section 38 staff as soon as possible, with retrospective application to the appropriate date. As he will be aware, all public servants, including HSE staff and section 38 staff, are entitled to pay adjustments due under Building Momentum, along with relevant claims that were resolved under the sectoral bargaining process. I can confirm that my Department has issued pay circulars and cons…

Yes, it is frustrating. It is frustrating for the staff, first, and for the Government and all of us as public representatives. It is not for any lack of will on the part of the HSE or the Department. As the Deputy correctly pointed out, unfortunately, we have outdated legacy systems, including for payroll. A new process is being put in place. One of the first places we are applying it is to the non-consultant hospital doctors to get rid of the situation where they were paying emergency tax every time they rotated.…

It is expensive but the funding has been allocated. As we were discussing, the systems will become operational in the new year, which is important. Let me refer to the changes. For a staff nurse on point 4, the gross salary last year, excluding the premium and overtime, was €35,130. With the cost-of-living increase and the Building Momentum increase, that is now €36,684. Regarding the cost-of-living increase, the 3% that will be paid before Christmas, the arrears due to the nurse is €966, with a further €167 to be …

I, too, commend the staff of Beaumont on their work. It is an impressive hospital with an impressive team. In spite of the challenges of Covid, respiratory syncytial virus, winter and the flu, the team is doing fantastic work. I fully acknowledge that the new emergency department is important. The proposal includes a reconfiguration of the existing emergency department. Associated works, including road realignment, will also be necessary. The HSE has appointed a design team. While it is in the early stages of devel…

The figures very much back up what the Deputy and people in the hospital know, which is that emergency department attendance today, by comparison with 2019, is up by approximately 8.5%. On top of that, admissions from the emergency department are up 20% on 2019. There has, therefore, been a huge increase in the number of patients coming in and the complexity of their care needs. A 20% increase since 2019 is huge. It underscores the Deputy's point, which is that new capacity is required. While the main project is go…