I will get an up-to-date report. I understand that there has been extensive engagement. As Deputy Burke rightly points out, we must have a process whereby the qualifications are verified. We are talking about a highly developed country with a highly developed healthcare system. My assumption is that they will be qualified to a very high level. The Irish Medical Council will be involved but we are not starting from scratch. We already have employed within the HSE a community of incredible healthcare workers from Ukr…

I thank the Deputy for raising the question. I acknowledge his ongoing advocacy and work for Ballina hospital. I very much look forward to meeting the Deputy in the hospital soon and meeting healthcare workers and management there to look at what more can be done in future with respect to ongoing provision for services. Ballina is a very important hospital. It is a 62-bed hospital providing short-stay facilities for those discharged from Mayo University Hospital who require convalescence before being discharged or …

I fully agree with the Deputy's assessment. As he said, Mayo University Hospital and Sligo University Hospital are fantastic hospitals but they are under pressure and need additional investment in beds, in their workforces and in diagnostics. As he also correctly said, the hospitals are only as good as the networks and the ecosystems within which they work. That is where Ballina really comes into its own. That is why we need the extra beds and the extra capacity. The biggest challenge in emergency departments now, …

I thank the Deputy. As he rightly said, though I am not sure we will get to the question, he has consistently raised the issue of Belmullet. He and I have discussed there being an active application in for Belmullet as well. I cannot pre-empt the capital appraisal but I would like to see exactly what the Deputy is advocating for, namely, more beds in Ballina, the modular unit moved on very quickly to alleviate pressure in the short term and more beds in Belmullet. I would then very much like to meet the Deputy in B…

I thank the Deputy for this important question. Providing rapid access to high-quality mental health services and the supports needed is an absolute priority for me, the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, and the Government. I would say that is the case for everybody in this House. Sharing the Vision: A Mental Health Policy for Everyone was published in June 2020 and is our national mental health policy. We are now implementing this strategy with a total allocation of €1.1 billion in the current budget. It is the la…

The national implementation and monitoring committee specialist group on women's mental health was established by my Department in August last year at the request of the national steering committee. The purpose of this specialist group is to advise the committee on implementation of the following recommendation from the Sharing the Vision implementation plan : The Department of Health Women’s Health Taskforce and the National Implementation Monitoring Committee will undertake a joint project within 12 months to out…

I fully concur with the Deputy's comments on the Minister of State, Deputy Butler. She has been doing a fantastic job and we really are putting women's health front and centre. We launched a strategy document approximately three weeks ago and every Member should have received a copy in his or her pigeonhole by now. I encourage colleagues to take a look at that strategy, which takes a whole life cycle approach to women's health for the first time. Obviously, part of that is mental health. We are looking very specifi…

I will answer the Deputy's question specific to Navan in a moment. I must first address the statement he made. It is manifestly and verifiably false to say that we are gutting hospital capacity. If the Deputy was being honest, he would know that is a preposterous and verifiably false statement. The reality-----

I did not interrupt the Deputy. With the greatest of respect, the record will show that while there is a huge amount more to be done, over the past two years more beds, more clinicians and more diagnostics have been added to the hospital system than in any year on record. They are verifiable facts. It is unhelpful for the Deputy to make statements that this Government, or indeed any Government, is gutting the hospital system. I will now speak directly to the very important point raised by him regarding Navan hospit…

As I said, and as the Deputy will be aware, I personally intervened to stop the process that had been going on. My view is that any consideration like this must involve the local communities, the healthcare professionals and those elected by the local communities to represent their interests. I would like to acknowledge that the Deputy, as well as other elected representatives for the area, have submitted very detailed questions. The HSE has pored over them and provided very detailed responses. I now want to sit do…

There is a question that the Deputy and I, as elected representatives, have to answer. If the Deputy and I, and all of us present, are being told not in private conversations where maybe we can or cannot quote directly and name individuals but on the record by the senior doctors that we need to do X, Y and Z-----

Okay, but if we are being told in open session by named individuals whom we can hold to account that changes need to be made to the healthcare system, be that investment in the National Ambulance Service, in mental health services, in minor injury units or in more care, to protect the lives of the people we represent, then what do we do? This is a really important issue for Navan hospital and the communities. I am proposing that we all get together with the doctors, who have to put their names and reputations out t…

I thank the Deputy for raising this very important issue. I fully appreciate how sickle cell disease and thalassaemia can place a substantial medical, social and financial burden on patients and their carers. There are some positive developments in terms of services for children but more needs to be done in the transition for adults. Children can access services provided by Children’s Health Ireland at Crumlin Hospital which, I know, the Deputy will be familiar with. The centre at Crumlin is supported by a multidis…

I thank the Deputy for his ongoing advocacy in this area. These are red blood cell disorders that can affect adults and children. The children can access the services of the paediatric haemoglobin and red cell disorder programme in Children's Health Ireland. In 2000, a maximum of 20 patients with such a disorder had been identified. Today, nearly 400 patients have been identified. That is a considerable increase. As the Deputy said, adults can access services in St. James's Hospital and have been able to do so sinc…

I thank the Deputy for his suggestions. I will refer his suggestion on the heel prick test. We have a group examining these issues. One of the things we want to do is to expand the number of conditions that are tested for. That is, in part, a result of the phenomenal advocacy work of Mr. Les Martin in terms of newborn screening. I will also refer the Deputy's suggestion around blood donation. While the business case to expand access is being looked at in St. James's, there are no issues at the moment around the ava…

I considered the Deputy's question at length and I was trying to understand exactly what he was asking. If I do not cover the specifics he wishes me to cover, I will happily revert to him with a note or talk to him about the issue separately. Section 38 and section 39 organisations have service provision arrangements with the HSE across a range of services, including healthcare, social care, mental health and disability services. The arrangements cross over voluntary acute hospitals, under section 38 funding; disab…

I thank the Deputy. He has covered several of the challenges we have. One of those is around multi-annual funding. To some extent there is multi-annual funding, in that when we put money in the health budget base, it is understood that money will stay there going forward. If we have invested in disability services, drug services, which are led by the Minister of State, Deputy Feighan, mental health services, acute services or whatever else, those are seen within the budget base as permanent expansions. That is very…

I agree. The way healthcare in this country is funded generally needs a radical overhaul. For example, most of our hospital and community services are funded through a block grant. We give hospital managers a certain amount of money for the year regardless of what happens in their hospital, how many patients they treat or how much innovation they do. Instead, we should be saying to the HSE, or the section 38 and section 39 organisations, that we are paying for services. We should be commissioning services and payin…

I am sharing my time with the Minister of State, Deputy Feighan. I am delighted to discuss this important issue. Improving the outcomes and experiences of women in our healthcare system has been an absolute priority for the Government and will remain so throughout its term. This month we launched the women's health action plan, the first of its kind in Ireland and showing a new future for women and girls. I acknowledge the support and input to this work of Members of the Dáil and Seanad of all parties and in both g…

A Cheann Comhairle, I wish to apologise to colleagues in advance. I really wanted to stay for the entire debate but a sub-committee meeting on health is scheduled to be held at 3 p.m. This is a very important issue for me and I wanted to be here for the full debate. Deputies will understand that when I leave, it is not that I want to go anywhere else but rather because I have been summoned. Again, I apologise.