Results 18,181-18,200 of 46,575 for speaker:Simon Harris

Written Answers — Department of Health: Health Services Provision (22 May 2019)

Simon Harris: As this question relates to service matters, I have arranged for the question to be referred to the Health Service Executive (HSE) for direct reply.

Written Answers — Department of Health: HSE Staff (22 May 2019)

Simon Harris: I have asked the HSE to respond directly to the Deputy on this matter.

Written Answers — Department of Health: Hospital Appointments Status (22 May 2019)

Simon Harris: Under the Health Act 2004, the Health Service Executive (HSE) is required to manage and deliver, or arrange to be delivered on its behalf, health and personal social services. Section 6 of the HSE Governance Act 2013 bars the Minister for Health from directing the HSE to provide a treatment or a personal service to any individual or to confer eligibility on any individual. The National...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Hospital Equipment (22 May 2019)

Simon Harris: As the Health Service Executive is responsible for the delivery of public healthcare services and infrastructure projects, I have asked the HSE to respond directly to you in relation to this matter.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion (22 May 2019)

Simon Harris: I am delighted to be here this morning. I thank the committee for the invitation and the engagement that I know we will have. I welcome Mr. Paul Reid, the new director general of the HSE, and his colleagues in the HSE. I wish Paul well in his new role, as I am sure we all do. He is a very exciting and important appointment for our health service at a crucial time when we have record...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion (22 May 2019)

Simon Harris: I genuinely recognise that it is a very stressful time for families, that they have been waiting more than patiently in very difficult circumstances and that they are worried about their children in the context of the availability of this drug. It is also important to recognise that the HSE has the statutory power to make such decisions. Neither I nor the Deputy has that power. It is very...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion (22 May 2019)

Simon Harris: The Deputy has been pursuing this for some time so I will not go back over old ground other than to make two brief points. Under the national development plan, we are planning to move all of our stand-alone maternity hospitals to the site of an acute adult hospital. The Deputy will be aware of plans to move Limerick maternity hospital to University Hospital Limerick, Holles Street maternity...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion (22 May 2019)

Simon Harris: I will start with the Deputy's final question. The plan this year, for the first time in many years, is to have fewer patients waiting for an outpatient appointment by the end of the year than at the start of the year. I accept that is not a radical advance but it will be the first year in a number of years that we will end the year with fewer patients waiting for an outpatient appointment...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion (22 May 2019)

Simon Harris: I know that the Deputy would never mean to be flippant but regarding her comments on the ribbon cutting at Connolly Hospital, I answered a question on this last week and will repeat the response today. The opening of Connolly Hospital this summer, at the end of July, will result in an additional 6,000 children being seen through outpatient clinics there. Additional children will benefit...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion (22 May 2019)

Simon Harris: Yes, but the Deputy also asked how we would fund the deal. That is the point to which I am referring. The deal will be partially funded through some of the reforms to the nurses have signed up through acceptance of the ballot. I will ask the director general about targets and implementation.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion (22 May 2019)

Simon Harris: If the Deputy thinks I am on the road to Damascus, some Members in the Oireachtas are still googling it to find out where it is before they even get on the road. I very clearly nailed my colours to the mast long before any de Buitléir report that I do not believe such a position was appropriate. Deputy O'Reilly would never do it but she could never cast any doubt over my position or...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion (22 May 2019)

Simon Harris: Whether we are talking about a children's hospital, a maternity hospital or an adult-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion (22 May 2019)

Simon Harris: That is fine. I am basically saying that regardless of the hospital, the rules will be the same. If the rule is that there should be no private practice in public hospitals, there will be no private practice in any public hospital, whether it is the children's hospital or elsewhere. In fairness to people developing hospitals, that is not the position now and our consultants are not...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion (22 May 2019)

Simon Harris: That is not a fair representation. My understanding is the consultants will pay for the use of those facilities.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion (22 May 2019)

Simon Harris: I do but we cannot agree on everything. It would be very boring.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion (22 May 2019)

Simon Harris: It would be terrible if we agreed on everything. It would not do the Deputy any good.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion (22 May 2019)

Simon Harris: While I take the point Senator Colm Burke makes passionately about the importance of service outside Dublin, including in Cork, I must point out that we are talking here about national projects. While they might be located in Dublin, they are national services. For example, 3,081 sick children from Cork attended our children's hospitals in Dublin over the past two years. As such, while the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion (22 May 2019)

Simon Harris: The Senator is not making the point, but it frustrates me when people suggest that all of the projects are in Dublin, when they are in fact national projects that will transform the lives of children, including children from Cork, whose parents have had to sleep on cold floors overnight. Every child will have a single en suiteroom and proper facilities. However, Senator Burke's point about...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion (22 May 2019)

Simon Harris: I thank Senator Dolan for his questions. I will respond to some of the issues raised and I am sure my colleagues from the HSE, as well as the Minister of State, Deputy Finian McGrath, will also respond. The Senator makes a very interesting point about reform and transformation. He points out that the HSE was set up 15 years ago and asks why we have not got there yet. While Senator Dolan...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion (22 May 2019)

Simon Harris: No, the Senator did not do, as I already said. He asked why reform and transformation have not happened after 15 years. Having been three years in my current job, I want to give the Senator my perspective on that question. It has not happened because of a failure of collective political leadership and a failure to both make and stick with decisions on health. In fairness to people in this...