The Minister of State is determined to get the rest of them up and running as quickly as possible. On staffing, there is ongoing recruitment of 375 personnel across the country. Let me give a sense of how challenging that has been. My figures will not be exact. From a briefing note I read earlier this morning, I believe about one third of the target was met in the first year that the number in question was allocated. I am saying this just to give colleagues a sense that the money is available and that the posts hav…

As we stand here today on International Women's Day, we have the first women's health action plan that shows a new future for women and girls in our country when it comes to health and wellness. As Minister for Health, improving the outcomes and experiences of women in our health system has been, and will remain, a top priority for me. Step-by-step, we have been tackling big issues that matter to women. Today we bring that work together in an action plan that will have a direct and tangible impact on women across t…

I wish to add my voice to condemning the illegal and outrageous invasion of Ukraine by Russia. Russia should immediately withdraw its forces and uphold international humanitarian and human rights law. I wish to outline for colleagues the actions that Ireland is taking to provide healthcare support to Ukraine at this time. I have asked my Department and the HSE to identify ways for Ireland to provide medical assistance. They are responding to a number of urgent requests for medical humanitarian assistance that we ha…

I move amendment No. 2: To delete all words after "That Dáil Éireann:" and substitute the following: "notes that: — as of end January 2022, there were 731,797 people on 'active' waiting lists for scheduled care services in hospitals, and 893,043 people on hospital waiting lists overall; — the active waiting list figure of 731,797 includes people waiting for an appointment for their procedure or their first outpatient consultation, as follows: — Inpatient Day Case: 77,818; — Outpatient Day Case: 625,513; and — gastr…

I thank the Deputy for his question. He has raised one of the greatest challenges in the health service. It is a top priority for me and the Government. Before the Government was formed and Covid arrived, waiting lists were far too high across the board. They are still too high and very significant action is required. The 2022 waiting list action plan, which I will bring to the Government shortly, builds on the successes of the plan in the fourth quarter of 2021, which ran from September until December. That 2021 p…

Phil Ní Sheaghdha and I spoke yesterday about many of these issues. I will visit Limerick on Thursday when I will go directly to the hospital and meet the hospital group. The Deputy is right in identifying the ongoing pressures there in spite of investment, increased resources and a new emergency department. The pressure is still not acceptable in Limerick or in Galway and other hospitals. I agree with the Deputy's core point on waiting lists. I made similar contributions in this House from where the Deputy is sitt…

I largely agree with the Deputy. I had a high-level meeting with the HSE on exactly this matter in the past few days. There are still some issues related to Covid. One point the HSE raised with me was that about half the nursing homes have Covid outbreaks. We have a protocol in place whereby one must wait 28 days, two full cycles of Covid, before anyone can be discharged. As the Deputy rightly said, there are pressures on discharges. We funded an extra 2.7 million home care hours for last year, which have been carr…

This is one of the most pressing areas of the waiting lists. Children are waiting for orthopaedic surgery, whether spinal surgery or surgery for scoliosis, spina bifida, hip deformities or a range of other conditions. Some are being treated quickly, which is a great testament to our clinicians and health service, but far too many are having to wait for far too long. It is not acceptable now and has not been acceptable for years. Significant progress was being made in the treatment of scoliosis and spina bifida in 2…

I thank the Deputy. What I asked for from the HSE was an ambitious plan that would get these children the care they need as quickly as possible. I am not interested in solving it over a five-year period; we have got to solve it now. We have paediatric orthopaedic surgeons who do not have the operating theatre time they need. We have operating theatres that are open between 9 p.m. and 5 p.m., Monday to Friday, but not earlier or later and not on Saturdays or Sundays. There is much opportunity there. The HSE worked w…

Yes, the plan is for end-to-end care. One of the surgeons at the meeting last week made a related point. He said we are not funding individual surgeries in this regard; we are funding care for children. He said several of these children may have to go in for multiple surgeries and they may need multiple surgeries this year. Thus, the targets are not around individual operations. What we are looking at is child by child, that is, are we putting a plan in place that can get this child, as the Deputy said, the pre-ope…

Yes, absolutely. It is something we have discussed - both Monday to Friday and opening earlier and later. It is something that happens in the adult private world. The operating theatres run longer as do the diagnostic suites. The operating theatres are open on Saturdays and sometimes Sundays. In fact, the HSE sometimes uses the private facilities sometimes on a Saturday. It is a "Yes", and not just in paediatric orthopaedic but right across the board.

I thank the Deputy very much for the question. It is a hugely important issue. I pay tribute to GPs and everyone working with them in general practice for the extraordinary work they have done through the pandemic and of late in stepping up around the Christmas period for the booster vaccines. They have been absolutely incredible. There are capacity challenges facing general practice. There are access challenges for patients. As the Deputy rightly said, it can be quite variable in different parts of the country. On…

Yes, I agree. We have to continue with the graduate training posts but we have to go much further than that. I talked to a rural GP from the Deputy's neck of the woods in Waterford a while ago, and she estimated that her maternity leave, which she totally funded herself, will cost her approximately €60,000. This is a brilliant young GP in Waterford. She was considering splitting a GMS list as she wanted to change the balance and pull back, but the rules are not in place to allow her to do that. As a result, she was…

As the Deputy quite rightly said, the ambition is very serious. The ambition is ultimately for free GP access to be the norm in our country, not just for children. That is where we have to go and we have to get there quickly. To do that, there has to be massive investment in general practice, including in the numbers, as we have discussed, and in the supports around them, such as eHealth, where there are some good initiatives but which is not rolling out quickly enough. The GMS contract will have to change. It will…

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. We are doing several things. We have to first recognise there is a serious issue. I know the groups met with the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health and the figures it gave them were very stark in respect of future shortages. Let us all agree this is a major issue that needs to be dealt with. What do we do? We need a very significant increase in training places. As the Deputy referenced in her question, we are setting up a working group on the future of general practice. …

Yes, I do. I accept all those issues. Certainly, the conversations I have had with GPs and members of the Irish Medical Organisation reflect all of that. We need to be flexible. From the conversations I have had with GPs, many of the younger GPs, and some of the more urban-based ones, are very interested in being in primary care centres, multidisciplinary teams and a lot of the innovation around eHealth. Interestingly, some of the older GPs I have spoken to who might be in more rural areas are quite happy with thei…

I would be delighted to meet the ICGP. It is an excellent organisation. It is doing the training now, but there is an awful lot of innovation and constant thinking about the future of the profession. I agree with regard to the need for salaried GPs. I have no issue with that. I would like to see more of that. It is something of an anomaly in a public health service where the vast majority of GPs are private contractors. That suits many of them and that is fine. Like the Deputy, I have spoken to GPs who would much p…

Yes, no problem. I will do so within the next few weeks.

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. The National Orthopaedic Hospital Cappagh is Ireland's major centre for elective orthopaedic surgery and through the wonderful Cappagh Kids initiative, the national orthopaedic hospital provides additional capacity for the treatment of some of the more routine paediatric orthopaedic patients, including some routine scoliosis procedures. Using the capacity provided by Cappagh first and foremost means children are treated there, but it also means that Children's Health Irelan…

I thank the Deputy. The solution for the children is to use all the hospitals. There is no one hospital. Not one of Cappagh, Crumlin and Temple Street can do this on its own. That is why I convened a meeting of all three hospitals last week. There is also work we can do with Blackrock Clinic. We had a meeting earlier today at which the Beacon was also referenced. The three main hospitals are Crumlin, Temple Street and Cappagh, which is already doing phenomenal work. I was out at Cappagh Kids on Friday and saw the f…