Results 30,981-31,000 of 46,456 for speaker:Simon Harris

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Hospitals Winter Plan (10 Oct 2019)

Simon Harris: I thank the Deputies for tabling these important questions. This is happening because of years of decisions that there were too many hospital beds in the health service. As a result of the withdrawal of beds during that time, we need to continue to increase the number of beds. This year, for the first time since 2009, there are 11,000 open beds in the health service. We need to continue...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Hospitals Winter Plan (10 Oct 2019)

Simon Harris: Yes.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Hospitals Winter Plan (10 Oct 2019)

Simon Harris: Correct.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Hospitals Winter Plan (10 Oct 2019)

Simon Harris: I know the Deputy does not like squabbling. I would not call it squabbling; I would call it debating in a parliamentary Chamber on whose policies work and whose policies do not work. When someone is dealing with complex healthcare matters, one-liners only take him or her so far. Deputy Donnelly has characterised the current position by referring to "the likes of which this country has...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Hospitals Winter Plan (10 Oct 2019)

Simon Harris: I will remind the Deputies opposite of Fianna Fáil's record in health. It slashed the health budget. Its leader set up the HSE in a way that did not work. During the Celtic tiger years, it built loads of motorways and deserves credit for that, but it did not build any acute hospitals. That is the record. We are now working constructively on an agreed way forward on Sláintecare,...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Hospitals Winter Plan (10 Oct 2019)

Simon Harris: Deputy O'Reilly knows when that she talks about money spent on PR, it is an attempt to make a connotation which does not exist. Money spent on PR is money spent on campaigns promoting vaccines, including the flu vaccine, and directing people to the appropriate places, including promoting our minor injury units. When I travel around the country, Deputies on all sides of the House bring me to...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Primary Care Centres (10 Oct 2019)

Simon Harris: I thank Deputy Brassil for his question and work on the Sláintecare strategy where it clearly came to the fore that funding community care and making that decisive shift is absolutely key. I want to assure him that we remain fully committed to the development of primary care. It is recognised that countries with a strong primary care sector have demonstrably better outcomes, lower...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Primary Care Centres (10 Oct 2019)

Simon Harris: Whatever about my future, I am sure the Deputy will be here continuing to make a positive contribution. I assure him that I fully agree with some of the latter end of his contribution because he and the other members of the Sláintecare committee having rightly been putting pressure on the Government to deliver multi-annual funding. If we think we are going to fix the challenges of the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Primary Care Centres (10 Oct 2019)

Simon Harris: I will honour that. I had a good conversation with Darragh O'Loughlin, chief executive of the Irish Pharmacy Union, last week when representatives of the union came in to discuss some very important work it is doing on our Brexit preparedness, for which I thank it. I had hoped to begin initial engagement on some of the issues in pharmacy this year with a view to formal talks starting at the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Primary Care Centres (10 Oct 2019)

Simon Harris: The Minister of State, Deputy Finian McGrath, is taking the question but is not yet in the Chamber.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Primary Care Centres (10 Oct 2019)

Simon Harris: I believe he is due to be here but I do not wish to detain Deputy Barry. The Minister of State has the documentation.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Primary Care Centres (10 Oct 2019)

Simon Harris: Of course. I am more than happy to answer.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Primary Care Centres (10 Oct 2019)

Simon Harris: Deputy Barry has put down Question No. 11. I suggest we swap the order of the questions so I could take Question No. 11 now.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Hospital Waiting Lists (10 Oct 2019)

Simon Harris: I thank the Deputy for his important question about orthopaedics in the Cavan-Monaghan region. I am conscious that waiting times are often unacceptably long and that this places a burden on patients and their families. We are committed to improving waiting times for hospital appointments and procedures. We have made some progress on hospital operation waiting lists, which have fallen. ...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Hospital Waiting Lists (10 Oct 2019)

Simon Harris: I do not disagree with a word the Deputy said. I have been advised that Cavan Monaghan Hospital has not yet submitted any proposals to the NTPF. I take this opportunity to encourage all of our hospitals, hospital groups, and community health organisations, CHOs, to bring forward proposals. There are excellent management and staff in the Cavan Monaghan Hospital. I have had the pleasure...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Hospital Waiting Lists (10 Oct 2019)

Simon Harris: The Deputy referenced the cross-Border directive. As a Border Deputy, he will be particularly concerned about and pleased with the work we have done in this House to protect reciprocal health arrangements in the event of a no-deal Brexit. The Brexit omnibus Bill we passed in April means that reciprocal healthcare rights, which apply to people travelling between North and South and, indeed,...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Hospital Waiting Lists (10 Oct 2019)

Simon Harris: There is much anticipation.

Ceisteanna Eile (Atógáil) - Other Questions (Resumed): Healthcare Infrastructure Provision (10 Oct 2019)

Simon Harris: The HSE recently published its capital plan for the period 2019 to 2021, outlining projects to be progressed which include the day care centre in Monasterevin, County Kildare. This will be welcome news for people there who, rightly, will want to know what happens next. The HSE is responsible for the delivery of public healthcare infrastructural projects. It has advised me that a design...

Ceisteanna Eile (Atógáil) - Other Questions (Resumed): Healthcare Infrastructure Provision (10 Oct 2019)

Simon Harris: I thank the Deputy for the follow-up question. I can tell this is an issue she has been pursuing back and forth with the HSE for quite some time. I will certainly engage with the HSE on the timeline for the submission of the planning application and revert directly to her in that regard. The way the capital planning process works, as she will be aware, is that we need to get through a...

Ceisteanna Eile (Atógáil) - Other Questions (Resumed): Healthcare Infrastructure Provision (10 Oct 2019)

Simon Harris: I am pleased the Deputy referenced the work of the Alzheimer Society. This is an area of interest she has pursued during her time in the House. I am pleased that in budget 2020 we were able to agree funding, which has been welcomed by the Alzheimer Society, for the appointment of ten additional dementia advisers throughout the country. This means we will be able to ensure that there is a...