Results 20,261-20,280 of 24,635 for speaker:Mary Harney

Hospital Services. (8 Dec 2009)

Mary Harney: The question relates to Sligo and I presume it arose on foot of Fintan O'Toole's article in respect of a meeting of Sligo County Council. It is my view that people would be extremely foolish to invest resources in a facility which could not deal with the volume of patients required to qualify for licensing and to meet the relevant standards.

Hospital Services. (8 Dec 2009)

Mary Harney: The HSE sought expressions of interest in December 2007 and July 2008 for the provision of primary care centres for primary care teams. Negotiations with interested parties proceeded in respect of 163 locations. Letters of intent have issued in respect of approximately 80 of these locations. Of those 80 locations, one centre has opened in Letterkenny, seven centres are due to open by the...

Hospital Services. (8 Dec 2009)

Mary Harney: The significance of primary care teams has nothing to do with buildings or new facilities, even though there are many of both. These teams involve health care professionals working differently together around patients. As stated previously, I recently met a health care nurse who has reduced, by half of one working day a week, the amount of time she spends seeking to make contact with...

Hospital Services. (8 Dec 2009)

Mary Harney: No, we have not been negotiating-----

Hospital Services. (8 Dec 2009)

Mary Harney: There are some people who are not happy with the terms that have been put to them. These individuals have come to see me and they have probably also visited the Deputy. Some arrangements have not been concluded but I am not in a position to inform the Deputy with regard to the different stages at which they stand. I informed him that 80 centres will open next year and that 350 doctors will...

Hospital Services. (8 Dec 2009)

Mary Harney: Perhaps the Deputy does not understand the law.

Hospital Services. (8 Dec 2009)

Mary Harney: Letters of intent have issued in respect of 80 different centres. That is a considerable number.

Hospital Services. (8 Dec 2009)

Mary Harney: Many contracts have been signed.

Hospital Services. (8 Dec 2009)

Mary Harney: Several contracts have been signed. I informed the Deputy that 80 centres will open next year. Is he of the view that contracts were not signed in respect of these?

Health Service Staff. (8 Dec 2009)

Mary Harney: I propose to answer Questions Nos. 37 and 47 together. The recruitment of a new chief executive officer is a matter for the board of the HSE, as are the internal governance structures of the organisation. However, I can confirm that certain changes are being introduced in the management structures of the HSE to enable it to better manage and deliver hospital and community services in a more...

Health Service Staff. (8 Dec 2009)

Mary Harney: In response to the last question, the Minister for Finance will make announcements about public service numbers in the course of his budget speech tomorrow. If the changes in the health service suggested last week, the five over seven, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. day, redeployment and flexibility can become the norm, as most people seem prepared to accept, they will have a major impact on the capacity...

Health Service Staff. (8 Dec 2009)

Mary Harney: -----particularly as we seek to integrate community and hospital services in a more orderly fashion than ever before. We want to move staff from providing the service in the hospital to providing it in the community and redeployment within a reasonable geographic radius provides that opportunity. One if not two of Professor Drumm's advisers have already left the HSE. The contracts of...

Health Service Staff. (8 Dec 2009)

Mary Harney: The Minister for Finance is responsible for the public service. That is factually correct. Of course we can reduce numbers within the HSE and I have said before, including last week, that the intention is to reduce the number by 8,000 but recruit back 2,000, making a net reduction of 6,000. We want to recruit consultants, specialist nurses and health care therapists and other specialists...

Health Service Staff. (8 Dec 2009)

Mary Harney: That would be a higher proportion. One must include support staff too. It is a great disappointment because we were discussing last week everything that had been sought for the past five years and which is central to the transformation of our health service, including a longer working day, a five over seven working week, different rostering and particularly redeployment. These are all...

Health Service Staff. (8 Dec 2009)

Mary Harney: I hope we can return to that agenda very early in the new year. I am delighted to have the Deputies' support for that agenda. That applies to other aspects of the public service.

Health Service Staff. (8 Dec 2009)

Mary Harney: I believe public servants are in favour of change and they know the kind of change that is necessary. I believe they are willing to respond.

Laboratory Services. (8 Dec 2009)

Mary Harney: Approximately 77 million laboratory tests are undertaken annually across 44 public hospitals. At present, the annual cost of this service is approximately €470 million. The workload comprises both urgent and non-urgent tests, and a significant proportion of the activity originates in the primary care setting. An external review of laboratory services was conducted for the HSE by Teamwork...

Laboratory Services. (8 Dec 2009)

Mary Harney: The main issue is quality and cost. The Deputy knows from the report that our turn-around time is bad, our quality is poor and our cost is enormous. Clearly, from any perspective, that is not satisfactory. The intention is to go to tender and there has been discussion with stakeholders. One would hope that the public service would be successful in that tender but clearly it must compete...

Laboratory Services. (8 Dec 2009)

Mary Harney: Quest Diagnostics has announced its intention to establish a facility in Ireland and it is in active discussions with a public facility here. The issue is one of quality, turn-around time and cost. It is not appropriate, as everyone accepts, including the professional representatives and the College of Pathology, that there are 44 centres in Ireland. There cannot be a quality-driven, quick...

Written Answers — Hospital Services: Hospital Services (8 Dec 2009)

Mary Harney: The Government is committed to ensuring the delivery of the best quality health services possible in a safe, effective and efficient way. It is essential that we prioritise patient safety and quality and that we organise and manage services accordingly. The priority is to provide safe services as close as possible to where people live. In the past, Roscommon County Hospital and Portiuncula...