Results 3,541-3,560 of 24,635 for speaker:Mary Harney

Written Answers — Ambulance Service: Ambulance Service (18 Oct 2005)

Mary Harney: I propose to take Questions Nos. 108, 110 and 176 together. Deputy Timmins's questions relate to the management and delivery of health and personal social services, which are the responsibility of the Health Service Executive, HSE, under the Health Act 2004. As part of the reform of the health service a national ambulance office has been established under the auspices of the national...

Written Answers — Medicinal Products: Medicinal Products (18 Oct 2005)

Mary Harney: All aspects of the drug delivery system, from the manufacturer to the patient, are currently under review. A number of proposals, including better access to generic drugs and supply chain costs such as pharmacy mark-ups, are being considered with a view to addressing the rapidly rising costs in medicines expenditure both by the State and by private individuals. I must stress that no single...

Written Answers — Hospital Services: Hospital Services (18 Oct 2005)

Mary Harney: I propose to take Questions Nos. 111, 112, 118, 124 and 152 together. I have been advised that the Health Service Executive is currently considering a proposal to put in place, as part of its national hospitals office, four administrative regions for hospital services. These are the western region, Dublin/north-east region, southern region and Dublin/mid-Leinster region. This proposal, if...

Written Answers — Hospital Services: Hospital Services (18 Oct 2005)

Mary Harney: I propose to take Questions Nos. 113, 134 and 177 together. The Deputies' questions relate to the management and delivery of health and personal social services, which are the responsibility of the Health Service Executive under the Health Act 2004. The national hospitals office is organised into networks. Within each network, hospitals provide full CAT scanning services in one of three ways,...

Written Answers — Consultancy Contracts: Consultancy Contracts (18 Oct 2005)

Mary Harney: The information requested is in the following table. Consultants Currently Employed Nature of Consultancy Completion Date Costs Outstanding (€ inc. VAT) Accenture Support, maintenance and minor enhancements for civil registration computer system. 31 December 2005 165,000 Business2Enterprise Clean up of HR data for transfer to new system and selection of interim...

Written Answers — Primary Care Strategy: Primary Care Strategy (18 Oct 2005)

Mary Harney: I propose to take Questions Nos. 116, 185, 212 and 213 together. The primary care strategy aims to develop services in the community so that patients will have direct access to integrated multi-disciplinary teams of general practitioners, nurses, health care assistants, home helps, occupational therapists and others. The principles set out in the strategy remain Government policy and this...

Written Answers — Hospital Services: Hospital Services (18 Oct 2005)

Mary Harney: An analysis by the national cancer registry of treatment data for the years 1994 to 2001 for the commonest cancers showed that treatment rates for chemotherapy and radiotherapy and, to a lesser extent surgery, declined with age. Information on reasons for treatment choices in Ireland is limited. However, lower rates of cancer treatment in older patients have been widely reported from many...

Written Answers — National Treatment Purchase Fund: National Treatment Purchase Fund (18 Oct 2005)

Mary Harney: I propose to take Questions Nos. 120, 137, 143, 151, 201 and 206 together. The national treatment purchase fund, NTPF, was established as one of the key actions for dealing with public hospital waiting lists arising from the 2001 health strategy. The strategy envisaged that the NTPF might make use of any capacity within public hospitals to arrange treatment for public patients. It was...

Written Answers — Health Insurance: Health Insurance (18 Oct 2005)

Mary Harney: I decided last June not to commence risk equalisation transfers, having considered the recommendation of the Health Insurance Authority and the subsequent representations made by health insurance undertakings. This also allows time for further corroboration of observed trends in the market. I am due to receive the authority's fourth report by the end of this month. The VHI has made a number...

Written Answers — Health Service Staff: Health Service Staff (18 Oct 2005)

Mary Harney: I propose to take Questions Nos. 122 and 150 together. There has been no alteration to Government policy on employment ceilings in the public sector, including the health service. Employment levels for the health service have been adjusted since 2002 in line with Government policy on public sector employment and also to take account of specific policy measures aimed at increasing service...

Written Answers — Hospital Accommodation: Hospital Accommodation (18 Oct 2005)

Mary Harney: An Agreed Programme for Government includes a commitment to expand public hospital beds in line with the health strategy commitment to increase total acute hospital bed capacity by 3,000 by 2011. Substantial investment in additional bed capacity in acute hospitals has already taken place. Funding has been provided to open an additional 900 inpatient beds/day places in public acute hospitals...

Written Answers — General Practitioner Services: General Practitioner Services (18 Oct 2005)

Mary Harney: The Health Service Executive's primary care re-imbursement service — formerly the General Medical Services Payments Board — annual report for 2004 indicates there were 2,210 general practitioners providing services in the general medical service and other community based schemes in that year, up from 2,181 for the previous year. On the issue of future manpower requirements for general...

Written Answers — Hospital Accommodation: Hospital Accommodation (18 Oct 2005)

Mary Harney: I propose to take Questions Nos. 128 and 133 together. This Government is committed to exploring fully the scope for the private sector to provide additional capacity. The health strategy recognises that additional capacity will be provided in the future by a combination of public and private providers. In July this year, my Department issued a policy direction to the Health Service Executive...

Written Answers — Accident and Emergency Services: Accident and Emergency Services (18 Oct 2005)

Mary Harney: The Deputy's question relates to the management and delivery of health and personal social services, which are the responsibility of the Health Service Executive under the Health Act 2004. Accordingly, my Department has requested the parliamentary affairs division of the executive to arrange to have this matter investigated and to have a reply issued directly to the Deputy.

Written Answers — Cancer Screening Programme: Cancer Screening Programme (18 Oct 2005)

Mary Harney: I am committed to the national roll out of the cervical screening programme in line with international best practice. A pilot cervical screening programme commenced in October 2000 and is available to eligible women resident in counties Limerick, Clare and Tipperary North. An international expert examined the feasibility and implications of a national roll out of a cervical screening...

Written Answers — Fluoridation of Water: Fluoridation of Water (18 Oct 2005)

Mary Harney: The study referred to by the Deputy is, in fact, an unpublished student dissertation. It is not possible to comment on unpublished research. However, I am informed that a number of peer reviewed published studies have shown no evidence of a link between water fluoridation and cancer. The Irish expert body on fluorides and health held its inaugural meeting in April 2004. The terms of reference...

Written Answers — General Practitioner Services: General Practitioner Services (18 Oct 2005)

Mary Harney: I propose to take Questions Nos. 132 and 170 together. The Deputies' questions relate to the management and delivery of health and personal social services, which are the responsibility of the Health Service Executive, HSE, under the Health Act 2004. The terms of the current general medical service GP contracts which are held with the HSE require GPs to provide services for 40 hours each week...

Written Answers — Health Services: Health Services (18 Oct 2005)

Mary Harney: The national health strategy, Quality and Fairness — A Health System for You, sets out this Government's vision for the development of health and personal social services into the future. The strategy sets out the key objectives for the health system: better health for everyone; fair access; responsive and appropriate care delivery; high performance. To achieve these objectives it is...

Written Answers — Consultancy Contracts: Consultancy Contracts (18 Oct 2005)

Mary Harney: I propose to take Questions Nos. 136 and 199 together. In 1995 a steering group composed of representatives of the health boards was formed to modernise and reform payroll and personnel systems. In 1997, the CEO group sought funding from the Department of Health and Children to support work on the project and to proceed with the implementation of a new system. In 1998, a sum of £7 million...

Written Answers — Hospital Accommodation: Hospital Accommodation (18 Oct 2005)

Mary Harney: I propose to take Questions Nos. 138 and 211 together. The health strategy identified a requirement for additional capacity throughout the health system and a need to reconfigure services to achieve maximum efficiency and effectiveness. The concerns about capacity and the configuration of services underline the need for ongoing investment, expansion of acute hospital services and substantial...