Results 4,081-4,100 of 24,635 for speaker:Mary Harney

Written Answers — Capital Expenditure: Capital Expenditure (17 Nov 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. This includes responsibility for considering new capital proposals or progressing those in the health capital programme. Accordingly, my Department is requesting the parliamentary affairs division of the...

Proposed Legislation. (22 Nov 2005)

Mary Harney: Statutory provisions exist in respect of governance in the health services which deal, inter alia, with the issue of confidential information. Section 35 of the Health Act 2004 obliges the Health Service Executive to draw up a code of governance which will include guiding principles applicable to the executive as a public body. Earlier this year my Department issued a framework document for...

Proposed Legislation. (22 Nov 2005)

Mary Harney: I have been in the House many years, but I have never known of a case where medical staff, whether doctors or other professionals, were shy about voicing their concerns in any forum. Dr. O'Reilly, the man to whom Deputy Twomey referred, worked in Waterford and then moved to Cork. His post was advertised, but I did not get anybody suitable for it and a locum was appointed in the meantime. I do...

Hospital Accommodation. (22 Nov 2005)

Mary Harney: The 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. In 2001, the average number of beds available for treatment of patients in public acute hospitals was...

Hospital Accommodation. (22 Nov 2005)

Mary Harney: I remind the Deputy that the agreement to provide 3,000 additional public beds was reached separately to any analysis of bed capacity in the private sector. The Deputy is aware that 53% of the population has private health insurance. When we consider the issue of acute bed capacity, we need to examine this country's total bed capacity and ensure that we use all the facilities available to us...

Hospital Services. (22 Nov 2005)

Mary Harney: I am glad of this opportunity to advise the House on the very positive outcome of my meeting last Tuesday with the Minister for Health for Northern Ireland, Mr. Shaun Woodward, MP. We agreed that the new Belfast Cancer Centre, which is to open next March, will treat patients from County Donegal. Details of the arrangements will be finalised in discussions involving the Health Service...

Hospital Services. (22 Nov 2005)

Mary Harney: I thank the Deputy for his comments. A number of issues are involved. I understand that Belfast will have spare capacity for approximately 100 or so patients a year. Some 500 new cancer cases occur in County Donegal annually and approximately half of those, some 250 people, require radiotherapy. They are the furthest from either Dublin or Galway. Therefore, they were the priority in terms of...

Variant CJD Incidence. (22 Nov 2005)

Mary Harney: Health promotion.

Health Services. (22 Nov 2005)

Mary Harney: There is no statutory obligation on the Health Service Executive to provide chiropody services to General Medical Service patients. However, in practice, arrangements are made to provide these services. Prior to the establishment of the HSE, the nature of arrangements for chiropody and the level of service provided were matters for individual health boards and variation in practice developed...

Health Services. (22 Nov 2005)

Mary Harney: I am concerned about this area, particularly as we move towards providing more community-based services. Even within the hospital system, some of our largest hospitals have too few chiropodists and major issues arise. The fee must be realistic to provide a service. While I am not in favour of patients paying a top-up fee, unless appropriate fees are paid, chiropodists will not provide the...

Health Services. (22 Nov 2005)

Mary Harney: I will not respond to that question because we must consider it in the context of the provision of services. One cannot have one without the other, if that does not sound like a cliché. There are large deficits at community level in chiropody services. I will shortly examine the issues which arise regarding fees. Confusion also arises on who is eligible for what and no statutory basis exists...

Health Services. (22 Nov 2005)

Mary Harney: As I stated in my reply, it is not part of the GMS. That is the issue.

Health Services. (22 Nov 2005)

Mary Harney: It evolved on an ad hoc basis and varied from one health board to another. That is one of the issues that needs to be clarified. IMPACT represents the chiropodists and discussions and negotiations will take place between the Health Service Executive, the employer representative group and IMPACT on fee issues.

Leaders' Questions. (22 Nov 2005)

Mary Harney: It is falling.

Written Answers — Hospital Accommodation: Hospital Accommodation (22 Nov 2005)

Mary Harney: I propose to take Questions Nos. 87, 128, 165 and 168 together. The Health Service Executive, HSE, is advancing the implementation of a series of measures to improve the delivery of accident and emergency services. These measures take a wide-ranging approach and are aimed at improving access to accident and emergency services, improving patient flows through accident and emergency...

Written Answers — Hospital Staff: Hospital Staff (22 Nov 2005)

Mary Harney: The Deputy's question relates to the management and delivery of hospital services which is the responsibility of the Health Service Executive, HSE. The HSE has informed me that there are three consultant urologists based at University College Hospital, Galway who provide a urology service for the region. These consultants provide outpatient clinics at Mayo General and at the County Hospital,...

Written Answers — Hospital Accommodation: Hospital Accommodation (22 Nov 2005)

Mary Harney: I propose to take Questions Nos. 90, 101 and 108 together. In the context of his examination of my Department's appropriation account for 2004, the Comptroller and Auditor General carried out a review of the operation of the National Treatment Purchase Fund, NTPF, in 2004. The responses from the fund and my Department to the issues raised in the Comptroller and Auditor General's report have...

Written Answers — Health Service Staff: Health Service Staff (22 Nov 2005)

Mary Harney: Employment information is collected by my Department every quarter on the basis of grade and employing agency and does not include any data on a programme by programme basis as requested by the Deputy. The latest available verified data is in respect of end-June 2005, when employment levels stood at 100,934 personnel in whole-time equivalent terms. The Deputy may wish to note that, since...

Written Answers — Health Service Staff: Health Service Staff (22 Nov 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, 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 Hospitals Office within the HSE. The office has responsibility for the...

Written Answers — Hospital Waiting Lists: Hospital Waiting Lists (22 Nov 2005)

Mary Harney: I propose to take Questions Nos. 94, 129, and 146 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. My Department is advised by the HSE that in the period 1997 to 2004 the total expenditure on inpatient and outpatient neuroscience services at...