Results 23,321-23,340 of 24,635 for speaker:Mary Harney
- Health Services: Motion (5 Oct 2010)
Mary Harney: I listened to Deputy Reilly, with respect. I know he is going to the Taiwanese reception, although I thought Fine Gael policy was the one China policy, which is interesting. That is the Deputy's entitlement, however, and I will not take issue with him on that except to note that I understood his party's policy was the one China policy.
- Health Services: Motion (5 Oct 2010)
Mary Harney: I would correct Deputy Reilly by noting it is not the case that 10% of increased life expectancy is due to health care, it is 50%.
- Health Services: Motion (5 Oct 2010)
Mary Harney: Deputy Reilly would dispute it. He disputes everything with me.
- Health Services: Motion (5 Oct 2010)
Mary Harney: The fact is that 50% of the increased life expectancy in Ireland is due to better health interventions and 50% is due to our enhanced prosperity over the years since we joined the European Union. At that stage, we were below the EU average by more than a year and we have substantially increased life expectancy in the intervening years, which is a good news story. Deputy Reilly criticised me...
- Health Services: Motion (5 Oct 2010)
Mary Harney: The allegation from the Opposition is that there is a closure of beds. There are 1,000 or 1,100 beds closed and to open them would require â¬300 million. Notwithstanding the fact those beds are closed, just as many patients will be treated this year as last year. That is a fact. I imagine this will be saluted. Central to changing work practices within the HSE, which is a very important...
- Health Services: Motion (5 Oct 2010)
Mary Harney: I would expect that when people come to the Deputy to leverage political support for challenges they face, at the least he would confront them with the challenges they can address. There was a litany of examples, especially in the west during the time of the Western Health Board, when year after year it ran over budget and the political system was leveraged to rescue the health board. That...
- Health Services: Motion (5 Oct 2010)
Mary Harney: -----our financial challenges. Of course we could always do with more. Could we do with more hours for the individuals who have a service? The answer to that is clearly "Yes".
- Health Services: Motion (5 Oct 2010)
Mary Harney: Unfortunately, we do not have the resources to do it. What we were able to do was put an extra â¬10 million into home care packages and home help services. Some 54,000 people in the country get home help services and just under 10,000 people are in receipt of home care packages. My priority and that of the Government is to continue to support people in living at home. Deputy Burke...
- Health Services: Motion (5 Oct 2010)
Mary Harney: They are recent applications. The responses are made in a timely fashion and money is not an issue in that respect.
- Health Services: Motion (5 Oct 2010)
Mary Harney: As a result, the number of late discharges from our acute hospital system has decreased by 30%.
- Health Services: Motion (5 Oct 2010)
Mary Harney: This is an improvement and I wish the overall figure was zero, but the figure is going in the right direction, just like that pertaining to hospital infections and some of the other issues mentioned in our amendment. Deputy Perry mentioned Sligo General Hospital, where the absentee rate is just under 5%, or 9,222 hours per month. In Navan hospital, the relevant figure is 4.74%, or 3,549...
- Health Services: Motion (5 Oct 2010)
Mary Harney: I would like to know what the Deputy is trying to do about it instead of putting pressure here.
- Health Services: Motion (5 Oct 2010)
Mary Harney: I am trying to respond.
- Health Services: Motion (5 Oct 2010)
Mary Harney: I want to answer, given the short time I have left.
- Health Services: Motion (5 Oct 2010)
Mary Harney: I want to answer some of the questions put. No one in the Department of Health and Children gets a bonus. Deputy English or one of his colleagues asked how many people got bonuses.
- Health Services: Motion (5 Oct 2010)
Mary Harney: Maybe it was Deputy McCormack. Two Deputies mentioned crutches. First, there are litigation issues. Second, it is cheaper to buy new crutches than to sterilise old ones. This is an issue in which I have been involved for the past year and I want to put the record straight.
- Health Services: Motion (5 Oct 2010)
Mary Harney: There are many examples of medical appliances that can be reused and a greater effort is being made to do so. That programme has been accelerated recently. What has been moved at Navan hospital is acute emergency surgery. One-----
- Health Services: Motion (5 Oct 2010)
Mary Harney: No. If the Deputy just listened. I tried to deal with this issue during Question Time.
- Health Services: Motion (5 Oct 2010)
Mary Harney: On average, one acute emergency surgery is admitted to Navan hospital every 24 hours. For patient safety reasons, that person will no longer go to Navan, but instead go to Drogheda. That is what has been cut for reasons of patient safety.
- Health Services: Motion (5 Oct 2010)
Mary Harney: Regarding orthopaedic surgery, which was the purpose of the question-----