Results 2,081-2,100 of 3,998 for speaker:Michael Harty

Public Health (Alcohol) Bill 2015: Report Stage (26 Sep 2018)

Michael Harty: I am sure these amendments are well-intentioned but we do not live in a perfect world, although we are trying to make it a little better. If we were to accept these three amendments relating to the Irish language, it would not make any practical difference. The effect will be either to reduce the font for the warning, as the warning will in any case take up a third of the label, or it will...

Public Health (Alcohol) Bill 2015: Report Stage (26 Sep 2018)

Michael Harty: It will most likely end up reducing the content of the warning. This type of political correctness makes no practical sense. The purpose of the Bill is to try to warn people of the dangers of alcohol, and inserting the warning in Irish is completely unnecessary.

Public Health (Alcohol) Bill 2015: Report Stage (26 Sep 2018)

Michael Harty: I thank the Minister for taking the debate. We are all aware of excessive alcohol intake and its effect on society and people, on their physical and mental health, as well as the social effects that alcohol has. We are all aware of people who developed cirrhosis of the liver, and we think that is the only physical illness that alcohol will cause in people. People are not aware, however,...

Public Health (Alcohol) Bill 2015: Report Stage (26 Sep 2018)

Michael Harty: I am sorry, excuse me. As Deputy Jonathan O'Brien mentioned, just because no other country has done it is no reason we should not do it. The facts and scientific evidence are there. No one can argue against the scientific evidence. The speaker who challenged the scientific evidence is gone. The scientific evidence is that alcohol is a risk factor for cancer. In the same way as the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Business of Joint Committee
General Scheme of the Patient Safety Bill 2018: Department of Health (26 Sep 2018)

Michael Harty: This morning we are meeting with officials from the Department of Health as part of the committee's pre-legislative scrutiny of the general scheme of the Patient Safety Bill 2018. The Bill covers a number of patient safety priorities, including mandatory open disclosure of serious, reportable patient safety incidents, the notification of reportable incidents to the regulator, the use of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Business of Joint Committee
General Scheme of the Patient Safety Bill 2018: Department of Health (26 Sep 2018)

Michael Harty: I thank Dr. Holohan. This Bill introduces mandatory open disclosure as opposed to the civil liability Bill, which proposed voluntary open disclosure. I believe it was Dr. Holohan's recommendation at the time that disclosure should be voluntary rather than mandatory. What issues have led to the change in recommendation?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Business of Joint Committee
General Scheme of the Patient Safety Bill 2018: Department of Health (26 Sep 2018)

Michael Harty: Is Dr. Holohan making a distinction between voluntary disclosure to the patient or his or her relatives and mandatory reporting of the incident to the regulator?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Business of Joint Committee
General Scheme of the Patient Safety Bill 2018: Department of Health (26 Sep 2018)

Michael Harty: I thank Dr. Holohan. We will go through the party spokespersons first. Are we agreed on five-minute exchanges between members and the witnesses? We will see how we get on.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Business of Joint Committee
General Scheme of the Patient Safety Bill 2018: Department of Health (26 Sep 2018)

Michael Harty: Deputy O'Reilly can ask questions on whatever she wishes. She will have an opportunity to contribute again.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Business of Joint Committee
General Scheme of the Patient Safety Bill 2018: Department of Health (26 Sep 2018)

Michael Harty: I call Deputy Donnelly.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Business of Joint Committee
General Scheme of the Patient Safety Bill 2018: Department of Health (26 Sep 2018)

Michael Harty: Was there not a mention in the Scally report -----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Business of Joint Committee
General Scheme of the Patient Safety Bill 2018: Department of Health (26 Sep 2018)

Michael Harty: In the Scally report, it was noted there was a difficulty in defining the roles and responsibilities of various personnel so it was difficult to pin down who had a responsibility in relation to deficiencies.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Business of Joint Committee
General Scheme of the Patient Safety Bill 2018: Department of Health (26 Sep 2018)

Michael Harty: Audit is to be encouraged because it will identify what is right and what is wrong. If audit reveals something that is wrong, that does not preclude people who have been inappropriately treated or damaged by a process from legal action. It is the audit process that is protected.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Business of Joint Committee
General Scheme of the Patient Safety Bill 2018: Department of Health (26 Sep 2018)

Michael Harty: If audit identifies something is going wrong, that does not preclude the person damaged from taking a case, to seek redress or to pursue it.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Business of Joint Committee
General Scheme of the Patient Safety Bill 2018: Department of Health (26 Sep 2018)

Michael Harty: It is the audit process that is being protected.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Business of Joint Committee
General Scheme of the Patient Safety Bill 2018: Department of Health (26 Sep 2018)

Michael Harty: It is not trying to hide what the audit has revealed.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Business of Joint Committee
General Scheme of the Patient Safety Bill 2018: Department of Health (26 Sep 2018)

Michael Harty: Is there a danger that mandatory open disclosure will lead to an increase in defensive medicine and, consequently, an increase in costs to the health service? Is there a danger that patients may be over-investigated or over-treated to ensure that absolutely nothing is missed because the fear of not doing so may leave one open to litigation or to being found to be acting irresponsibly?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Business of Joint Committee
General Scheme of the Patient Safety Bill 2018: Department of Health (26 Sep 2018)

Michael Harty: Before something goes wrong, the worry from a professional point of view is that if one does not undertake every investigation possible one may misdiagnose and be liable to end up making an error, for instance, delayed diagnosis. It would be an issue here with open disclosure that there was a delay in diagnosis and one would have to mandatorily disclose that there was a delay in diagnosis....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Business of Joint Committee
General Scheme of the Patient Safety Bill 2018: Department of Health (26 Sep 2018)

Michael Harty: With the availability of more precise scanning and other testing to be absolutely sure of one's diagnosis, whereas 20 years ago one went into hospital with acute appendicitis and one's appendix was taken out that evening, now one goes into hospital and before one's appendix is taken out one must have a CT scan to confirm what is blatantly obvious, which seems like a waste of resources and a...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Business of Joint Committee
General Scheme of the Patient Safety Bill 2018: Department of Health (26 Sep 2018)

Michael Harty: Returning to Senator Colm Burke's original question about the requirement for an inquest to be held within a specific period of time, the Coroners (Amendment) Bill 2018 is going through the Dáil at present. Perhaps that would be a good amendment to introduce in that legislation.