Results 19,221-19,240 of 46,575 for speaker:Simon Harris

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 38 - Health (Further Revised) (10 Apr 2019)

Simon Harris: There is no provision in this year's Estimates for the maternity hospital and there is no point in me suggesting there is. There is, however, some money for the theatres at the Coombe Hospital.

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 38 - Health (Further Revised) (10 Apr 2019)

Simon Harris: It would be highly desirable to move ahead with it. There are funding priorities and we have had discussions about capital. I would not want to mislead the committee by suggesting we have the funding to do it. We need to have another look at it as the year progresses. There are many sceptics out there, though I know the Deputy is not one, but there is no doubt that we are going to build...

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 38 - Health (Further Revised) (10 Apr 2019)

Simon Harris: We have approximately two months of data so far and they suggest it is on profile but there are emerging pressures and getting the pay and numbers strategy right is key. I am in no way complacent about it and a lot of hard work is being done to ensure the HSE does repeat last year's performance.

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 38 - Health (Further Revised) (10 Apr 2019)

Simon Harris: My very clear understanding from GPs and my officials was that women were making the decision to seek reassurance. They were going to go to their GPs for that reassurance but their GP would have not been able to provide clarity on what might happen. A two-tier system was emerging in which women who could afford it could have it. There was a risk of further undermining confidence in the...

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 38 - Health (Further Revised) (10 Apr 2019)

Simon Harris: There were a mixture to some extent. This was a reassurance mechanism but, as Minister for Health, I cannot put myself in that consultation room. I trusted women and their doctors, together, to make what they believed to be the appropriate decision. I did not want a situation where some women could access a repeat smear and others could not or where a doctor believed it was appropriate but...

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 38 - Health (Further Revised) (10 Apr 2019)

Simon Harris: That is a very helpful clarification because it gives us an insight into what was actually happening.

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 38 - Health (Further Revised) (10 Apr 2019)

Simon Harris: Yes.

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 38 - Health (Further Revised) (10 Apr 2019)

Simon Harris: I thank Deputy O'Brien for providing me with the opportunity to do that. The first thing it is worth saying is that I accept that two thirds of the backlog is made up of out-of-cycle smears where women decided, as we went through the process, in consultation with their GP for reassurance, to seek another smear test. One third, or one in three, of those is made up of new women entering the...

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 38 - Health (Further Revised) (10 Apr 2019)

Simon Harris: Yes.

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 38 - Health (Further Revised) (10 Apr 2019)

Simon Harris: No. We are continuing to look to and explore every opportunity. The other issue that will come into play, and a clinician will explain it much better than I will, is the benefit that the introduction of HPV testing will have in reducing the demand on cytology. There is an interplay in that regard between the introduction of HPV testing and the positive benefit that can have on capacity....

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 38 - Health (Further Revised) (10 Apr 2019)

Simon Harris: I had an opportunity, with Senator Devine, to meet some of the residents this morning. There is no way of avoiding the fact that when a person lives very near a large construction project, that causes upheaval for local residents and a great deal of difficulty for the local community. I know we all understand that. My understanding is that there is a structure set up for engagement between...

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 38 - Health (Further Revised) (10 Apr 2019)

Simon Harris: I thank Deputy O'Brien for this question. I know he is a strong advocate on this issue. He is right to say that some progress has been made in terms of the waiting time from referral to assessment, but he is asking what is happening in regard to the assessment to treatment aspect.

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 38 - Health (Further Revised) (10 Apr 2019)

Simon Harris: Four days, yes.

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 38 - Health (Further Revised) (10 Apr 2019)

Simon Harris: In consultation with officials here, we think that the target is still four days for this week for the actual referral to assessment. We believe that the four days refers to not just referral but referral and assessment. I will clarify the matter for the Deputy in a note.

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 38 - Health (Further Revised) (10 Apr 2019)

Simon Harris: My understanding is that the contract continues unless somebody resigns from the programme. It is a contract that continues to roll unless somebody opts out of the programme. I will get a note for the Deputy. I have not been made aware of particular problems emerging, as the Deputy has but he is probably better informed than me on this matter. I am happy to discuss them with the Deputy...

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 38 - Health (Further Revised) (10 Apr 2019)

Simon Harris: I understand and ask the Deputy to provide me with the geographical area.

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 38 - Health (Further Revised) (10 Apr 2019)

Simon Harris: I thank the Deputy.

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 38 - Health (Further Revised) (10 Apr 2019)

Simon Harris: I am very pleased to do that. The National Treatment Purchase Fund, NTPF, has a budget of €75 million for 2019, which is an increase on last year again. We managed to reduce the overall number of people waiting for inpatient day cases, hospital operation or hospital procedure to just below 70,000 in 2018. The aim is to reduce the figure to just below 60,000 in 2019. This year, we...

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 38 - Health (Further Revised) (10 Apr 2019)

Simon Harris: I will have to get the Deputy accurate figures because they are growing and changing.

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 38 - Health (Further Revised) (10 Apr 2019)

Simon Harris: I am pleased that the figure is growing in terms of the number of GPs signing up. I get a fortnightly report on this matter and I am due a fortnightly report any day now. From my recollection, the last figures that I saw showed that more than 300 GPs had signed up, which is quite a significant increase from where we started. There are some counties that do not still have a GP signed up. I...