Results 20,021-20,040 of 46,095 for speaker:Simon Harris

Written Answers — Department of Health: Hospitals Data (24 May 2018)

Simon Harris: In relation to the number of operations and procedures that were cancelled or postponed in each voluntary hospital to date in 2018, as this is a service matter, I have asked the HSE to respond to the Deputy directly.

Written Answers — Department of Health: HSE Staff Data (24 May 2018)

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

Written Answers — Department of Health: Hospital Beds Data (24 May 2018)

Simon Harris: In relation to the particular query raised, as this is a service matter, I have asked the HSE to respond to the Deputy directly.

Written Answers — Department of Health: Medicinal Products Reimbursement (24 May 2018)

Simon Harris: Medicines play a vital role in improving the health of Irish patients. Securing access to existing and new and innovative medicines is a key health service objective. However, the challenge is to do this in a safe and sustainable manner. Treatment must be appropriate and proportionate and clinical decision-making, such as prescribing, should be based on both patient needs and sound medical...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Medicinal Products Availability (24 May 2018)

Simon Harris: My Office has been in contact with MS Ireland regarding their request and have scheduled a meeting for early June.

Written Answers — Department of Health: Hospital Appointments Status (24 May 2018)

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...

Order of Business (29 May 2018)

Simon Harris: I thank Deputy Kenny for the question. If he wants to send me the details as a specific case, I would be happy to ask the HSE to look into it. In general, the Government is both increasing staffing levels and funding to the health service following on from the moratorium put in place by previous Governments.

Order of Business (29 May 2018)

Simon Harris: We have two plans. After years of failed policies of reducing the number of hospital beds, we are going to increase the number of hospital beds in the health service so there is an adequate number of beds. That is why we fully funded the bed capacity review to provide 2,500 more acute hospital beds. Second, we are going to build three elective-only hospitals - one in Dublin, one in Galway...

Order of Business (29 May 2018)

Simon Harris: I will revert to the Deputy specifically on a time limit. The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in the UK, along with the British Society for Colposcopy and Cervical Pathology, have been asked to audit all of those files, and that work is about to commence.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Hospital Beds Data (29 May 2018)

Simon Harris: I thank Deputy Donnelly for the question. As the Deputy knows, the Government committed to undertaking a health service capacity review in A Programme for a Partnership Government, and this was published last January. This was the first thorough assessment of capacity needs across the health service for more than a decade. In the following month, 2,600 acute beds and 4,500 social care beds...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Hospital Beds Data (29 May 2018)

Simon Harris: I thank Deputy Donnelly for the question. I welcome that there is now a political consensus in this House that we need more acute hospital beds. That was not the practice in the past, even during the previous economic boom where, and I do not mean this in a party political sense, there was a view, even within senior levels of health service management, that we had too many hospital beds in...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Hospital Beds Data (29 May 2018)

Simon Harris: I thank Deputy Donnelly. The Economic and Social Research Institute, ESRI, confirmed to me today that at no point did it refute the capacity review figures and it was represented on the steering group of the review. It has confirmed also that it is very clear that the projections on the two exercises were not comparable. The Deputy is not suggesting they are as the ESRI one did not factor...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Health Services Data (29 May 2018)

Simon Harris: I will do that a special courtesy to the Deputy..

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Health Services Data (29 May 2018)

Simon Harris: I find it unusual to have to apologise for being courteous to the Deputy but I will take her at her wish. The Deputy is correct in that if we look back to 2007 and compare the figures then to the latest figures, there has been a reduction in the number of community nurses. If the question is pitched in terms of the timelines as the Deputy has done she is correct the figure is down....

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Health Services Data (29 May 2018)

Simon Harris: We are not proposing doing more of the same, hence specifically as part of the public sector pay agreement, the stability agreement, there was another agreement with the INMO that issues relating to recruitment and retention of health care professionals would be the first thing to be considered by the second phase of the Public Service Pay Commission’s work. That work is under way....

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Health Services Data (29 May 2018)

Simon Harris: My mathematics are not brilliant either but the Deputy said she is in the CHO 9 area and I have done a rough calculation. There were 1,971 community nurses there in December 2017 and that had risen to 2,074 in April 2018, which I think is an increase of 103 nurses. I accept the point and am not contesting that we need to continue to do more to get back to where we want to be in respect of...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Cancer Screening Programmes (29 May 2018)

Simon Harris: I thank Deputy Kelly for the question and for his work on this important issue in recent weeks and months. I want to say first that in regard to the HSE as a whole, I do not believe the current governance structures are appropriate. I believe the HSE is far too bureaucratic and is not accountable enough. I believe we need to move quickly as an Oireachtas to put in place an independent...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Cancer Screening Programmes (29 May 2018)

Simon Harris: We are all aware that Dr. Scally is independent in his work, which is right and proper. We also all agreed to the terms of reference and they are very clear on the work Dr. Scally is to set about doing. He has shown himself to be well able to get to the bottom of serious issues. While I can absolutely understand how people who have been so badly let down cannot have confidence in elements...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Cancer Screening Programmes (29 May 2018)

Simon Harris: I agree with the Deputy on the documentation and review findings required. I will follow up on the matter directly immediately after priority questions. For those who are watching and to have confidence in the screening programme and that information will be given, it is important to say two things. First, there has been a huge volume of calls in the last few week to the CervicalCheck...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Hospital Waiting Lists (29 May 2018)

Simon Harris: I thank the Deputy for his question. Reducing waiting times for patients for hospital operations and procedures is a key priority for the Government. Cataract surgery is among the most common surgical procedures carried out in the ophthalmology specialty. Through the work of the National Treatment Purchase Fund, NTPF, and the HSE, the overall number of patients waiting for cataract...