Results 32,721-32,740 of 46,456 for speaker:Simon Harris

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues (11 Dec 2019)

Simon Harris: That is a matter for the HSE.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues (11 Dec 2019)

Simon Harris: I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. It does indeed sound illogical because, obviously, we want to provide all the care to the woman there. Mr. Reid and I will have a look at that, see if that can be fixed and revert to the Deputy and the committee.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues (11 Dec 2019)

Simon Harris: I thank the Deputy for her comments. After my meeting last night, I am just so conscious of how grateful families impacted by addiction are that she and others raise these issues and that we talk about them here. They feel they are never talked about. We do not talk about addiction enough in Ireland but we talk even less about the impact of addiction on the family. The Deputy is right...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues (11 Dec 2019)

Simon Harris: I think the pertinent question is why the central HSE was not asked to open these beds earlier.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues (11 Dec 2019)

Simon Harris: The HSE and Department of Health became aware of these beds not being open when we put out a call to the system asking if there were any more beds around the country that could be opened. It is inexcusable that 15 beds in St. John's hospital were not open during a crisis in bed capacity in the UHL hospital group. I also find it inexcusable that doctors from the acute hospital are not...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues (11 Dec 2019)

Simon Harris: We will send it to the committee providing there is no issue with publication. We will just check first.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues (11 Dec 2019)

Simon Harris: I thank Deputy Bríd Smith for raising these questions. I had intended to say this to the 221+ group in writing first but, in the interests of clarity, the €2,000 payment recommended in the Scally report will be provided to the people who participated.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues (11 Dec 2019)

Simon Harris: I did not say "No" initially. Just because a headline said that I did, it does not mean that is the case. I received a letter from patient advocates last week and I said that I would come back to them on the issue.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues (11 Dec 2019)

Simon Harris: I considered the factual position. As Deputy Kelly knows, when one is a Minister one is given advice and information and one then considers it and makes a decision. Some were of the valid view that Dr. Scally had recommended that a payment of €2,000 be made to people who engaged with this process because they went through considerable expense and inconvenience. Those who...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues (11 Dec 2019)

Simon Harris: I will get to that in a moment. I just wanted to make that point because it would be disingenuous not to do so while I was here. I do not have a lack of curiosity with regard to what happens in the labs, as the Deputy suggested. In consultation with the patient advocates, we commissioned work on the laboratory breakdown for the 221+ group. I shared that with the patient advocates and with...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues (11 Dec 2019)

Simon Harris: It has certainly been sent to this committee. If the Deputy does not have a copy I will provide her with one directly.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues (11 Dec 2019)

Simon Harris: As the patient representatives and this committee both have copies, I consider it published. It is freely available to Members of the Oireachtas, patient advocates, and anyone else who wants it. I have spoken about it at length in the Dáil.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues (11 Dec 2019)

Simon Harris: We have also seen Dr. Scally's reports in which he found serious difficulties with regard to procurement and a number of other issues. I do not have his words in front of me, but he did say that he did not find anything to be substandard or that there were any safety concerns. On top of that, we now have the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists answering the question as to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues (11 Dec 2019)

Simon Harris: With respect, I do not know what, if anything, went wrong because the Deputy is talking about an individual case.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues (11 Dec 2019)

Simon Harris: I am aware of the limitations of screening, as is the Deputy. I am aware that cervical cancer is a most devastating disease and that it disproportionately affects younger women. I would like Dr. Henry to talk about them.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues (11 Dec 2019)

Simon Harris: Taking up that point, no minister for health anywhere in the world would suggest that things cannot go wrong in a health service, beyond the limitations of any procedure. Of course, that is the case. As the Deputy knows, determining that in Ireland is an adversarial process which needs to be reformed. That is why we have asked Mr. Justice Charles Meenan to do a body of work on tort reform....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues (11 Dec 2019)

Simon Harris: The Deputy and I cannot determine-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues (11 Dec 2019)

Simon Harris: The suspension will remain in place until the chief medical officer and chief clinical officer advise me and the HSE to the contrary. As I informed the Deputy at our meeting, there are no imminent plans to lift that suspension and there is much work to do before we would be in a position to do so.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues (11 Dec 2019)

Simon Harris: The urgent care centre in Connolly Hospital Dublin is currently open from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. I would like those hours extended by an hour either side, that is, from 9 a.m. until 6 p.m. Children's Health Ireland is working on that. I have no confidence in some of the work practices of our consultants - absolutely none - when I see private practice and income being put ahead of the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues (11 Dec 2019)

Simon Harris: I will ask Dr. Henry to comment on some of the RCOG matters. The Deputy and I both know Mr. John Wall well. He is a great individual and a great advocate. I met him most recently three weeks ago and he was also in touch with me yesterday. We set up a new clinical advisory group to look at what is going to be an expansion of the access to medical cards for people with a terminal illness....