Results 22,441-22,460 of 24,635 for speaker:Mary Harney

Written Answers — Parliamentary Questions: Parliamentary Questions (22 Jun 2010)

Mary Harney: I propose to take Questions Nos. 69, 76, 110 and 255 together. Industrial action in relation to the processing of Parliamentary work by members of IMPACT and the Civil and Public Services Union (CPSU) commenced from 1st March 2010. A total of 1725 Parliamentary Questions were taken by my Department during the period from 3rd March 2010 to 11th June 2010. Of these, 1044 (60 %) have not been...

Written Answers — Medical Cards: Medical Cards (22 Jun 2010)

Mary Harney: As this is a service matter it has been referred to the Health Service Executive for direct reply to the Deputy.

Written Answers — Health Insurance: Health Insurance (22 Jun 2010)

Mary Harney: Arising from a derogation under the Non-Life Insurance Directives, VHI continues to be exempt from prudential solvency requirements. The Voluntary Health Insurance (Amendment) Act 2008 provided for the VHI to acquire sufficient funding in terms of its capital reserves to enable it to make an application to the Financial Regulator for authorisation. In the context of the Government's...

Written Answers — Hospitals Building Programme: Hospitals Building Programme (22 Jun 2010)

Mary Harney: I propose to take Questions Nos. 73 and 100 together. The Renewed Programme for Government re-affirms the Government's commitment to the current co-location programme, the purpose of which is to make available, in future years, in the most cost effective way, public acute hospital beds for public patients by transferring private activity, with some limited exceptions, from public acute...

Written Answers — Proposed Legislation: Proposed Legislation (22 Jun 2010)

Mary Harney: I intend to submit a Memorandum to Government shortly seeking approval to draft a General Scheme of a Bill to restrict the use of sunbeds. This Memorandum will, inter alia, take into account recommendations from a wide range of bodies including the World Health Organisation, the Irish Cancer Society, the Environmental Health Officers' Association and the National Cancer Control Programme in...

Written Answers — Hospital Services: Hospital Services (22 Jun 2010)

Mary Harney: The Government is committed to ensuring the delivery and maintenance of the best quality health service possible and in providing the highest standard of patient care, in an effective and efficient way, within the resources allocated. As part of the HSE plan to develop integrated structures in the HSE West region, a Clinical Director for Acute and Continuing Care has been appointed to Galway...

Written Answers — National Treatment Purchase Fund: National Treatment Purchase Fund (22 Jun 2010)

Mary Harney: The NTPF has operated an outpatient department (OPD) pilot programme since 2005. The objective of the outpatient programme is to reduce waiting times for outpatient consultations for an agreed volume of public patients on public hospital waiting lists and to operate this programme over a number of surgical and medical specialties. All Health Service Executive regions are participating in...

Written Answers — Medicinal Products: Medicinal Products (22 Jun 2010)

Mary Harney: I propose to take Questions Nos. 83 and 118 together. The Government has decided to introduce a system of reference pricing combined with generic substitution of medicines. This will promote price competition and deliver ongoing savings for both the State and for patients. Last week, I launched a report, prepared by a joint working group made up of officials and healthcare professionals from...

Written Answers — Hospital Services: Hospital Services (22 Jun 2010)

Mary Harney: Owing to industrial action by staff in the HSE for most of the year to date, data on cancelled operations in acute hospitals in 2010 is not available at present. Now that the industrial action has ended, work is underway in the HSE to collate and validate data in this regard. I am conscious that the cancellation of a hospital procedure can be inconvenient and stressful for both patients and...

Written Answers — Ambulance Service: Ambulance Service (22 Jun 2010)

Mary Harney: I propose to take Questions Nos. 86 and 180 together. The emergency ambulance service in the Greater Dublin Area is provided by Dublin City Council in the first instance. When operational circumstances so require, the HSE National Ambulance Service provides supplementary capacity to ensure that the necessary cover is maintained. Where necessary, this involves the use of available ambulance...

Written Answers — Departmental Reports: Departmental Reports (22 Jun 2010)

Mary Harney: Currently a national review relating to the misdiagnosis of miscarriages is being implemented by the Health Service Executive, which aims to complete it within a 6 month period, to publish its findings, and to learn from the experience in terms of implementing recommendations. Other national reviews relating to misdiagnosis have been undertaken in the area of cancer services. The learning...

Written Answers — Vaccination Programme: Vaccination Programme (22 Jun 2010)

Mary Harney: I propose to take Questions Nos. 95 and 122 together. My Department and the Health Service Executive had been preparing for some years for the probability of an influenza pandemic. As part of these extensive preparations, a National Pandemic Preparedness Plan was published in 2007. Ireland put in place advance purchase agreements with two vaccine manufacturers prior to the declaration of the...

Written Answers — Ambulance Service: Ambulance Service (22 Jun 2010)

Mary Harney: I was very saddened to hear of the tragic death of an HSE paramedic while he was on duty earlier this month. I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere condolences to the family and colleagues of the person involved. I understand that the HSE, the Health and Safety Authority and the Gardaí are conducting investigations into this accident. I have arranged for the HSE to...

Written Answers — Departmental Reports: Departmental Reports (22 Jun 2010)

Mary Harney: I established the Expert Group on Resource Allocation and Financing in the Health Sector under the chairmanship of Professor Frances Ruane, Director, ESRI in April last year to examine how the existing system of resource allocation within the Irish public health service can be improved to support better the aims of the health reform programme. The Group was asked to report to me and the...

Written Answers — Hospital Waiting Lists: Hospital Waiting Lists (22 Jun 2010)

Mary Harney: I propose to take Questions Nos. 102 and 103 together. The improvement of access to outpatient services, which are a key access point to the acute hospital system and involve over three million attendances annually, is a priority for the health service. It is essential that people are afforded timely access to outpatient services when they require them and that these services function...

Written Answers — EU Directives: EU Directives (22 Jun 2010)

Mary Harney: On 2 July 2008, the Commission presented a proposal for a "Directive on patient's rights in cross-border healthcare". The draft Directive aims to facilitate access to safe and high-quality cross-border healthcare and promotes cooperation on healthcare between Member States, in full respect of national competencies in organising and delivering healthcare. The draft directive was brought...

Written Answers — National Treatment Purchase Fund: National Treatment Purchase Fund (22 Jun 2010)

Mary Harney: To date the NTPF has successfully provided over 170,000 public patients with inpatient procedures, outpatient appointments and MRIs. The median waiting time for medical and surgical patients is now 2.5 months. The Fund's 2010 activity targets involve treating 20,000 inpatients and providing 3,000 MRIs and 8,000 outpatient appointments and it anticipates meeting these targets. At my...

Written Answers — Health Services: Health Services (22 Jun 2010)

Mary Harney: As these are service matters they have been referred to the Health Service Executive for direct reply to the Deputy.

Written Answers — Hospital Accommodation: Hospital Accommodation (22 Jun 2010)

Mary Harney: The introduction of the Nursing Home Support Scheme has enabled both the Beaumont and Mater hospitals to significantly reduce the number of delayed discharges and therefore reduce the number of inpatient beds that are required. The average number of long-stay patients (excluding patients awaiting rehab) in Beaumont averaged 105 in the first four months of 2009, compared to an average of 78...

Written Answers — Health Services: Health Services (22 Jun 2010)

Mary Harney: I am aware that in order to support the reconfiguration of acute hospitals in Cork and Kerry, a non-executive advisory board was established by the HSE in September 2009. The board has 17 members, drawn from business, education and healthcare fields. Its purpose is to support and advise the HSE as appropriate in relation to the reconfiguration of acute hospital services in the region and to...