Results 4,821-4,840 of 24,635 for speaker:Mary Harney

Hospitals Building Programme. (31 Jan 2006)

Mary Harney: I propose to take Questions Nos. 133, 135, 140, 199 and 207 together. The Government is committed to exploring fully the scope for the private sector to provide additional capacity in the health system. In this context, my Department issued a policy direction to the HSE last July aimed at freeing up additional beds in public hospitals for public patients. This will be achieved through the...

Hospitals Building Programme. (31 Jan 2006)

Mary Harney: The HSE is responsible for hiring consultants and Comhairle na nOspidéal has been subsumed into the HSE since the end of December last, which makes sense. Consultants are currently contractors in the health care system and are not employees of the hospitals. We wish to move to them being employees. A public-only contract commits the individual to work on all patients that come into a...

Hospitals Building Programme. (31 Jan 2006)

Mary Harney: The Deputy appears to misunderstand what is happening. Everybody is entitled to access our public hospital system and I wish to see that continue. However, I wish to see patients selected into a public hospital system on the basis of medical need, not on the basis of whether they have private health insurance. This is what currently happens. There are 2,500 private beds in the public hospital...

Hospitals Building Programme. (31 Jan 2006)

Mary Harney: If I take 1,000 private beds out of the public hospital system and convert them to public use that would be a major achievement. Deputies opposite seem to suggest I leave it as it is.

Hospitals Building Programme. (31 Jan 2006)

Mary Harney: Every party supports tax relief for films and other things such as urban renewal which have all been worthy schemes that have achieved fantastic results. We do not, however, seem to be capable of supporting, through tax measures, sensible investment in the health care system. If we can attract investment into the health service through private financing we would be very foolish not to...

Hospitals Building Programme. (31 Jan 2006)

Mary Harney: Converting private beds to public beds is nothing to do with the American system. The Deputy does not know what he is talking about.

Hospitals Building Programme. (31 Jan 2006)

Mary Harney: He was a big investor in a private hospital, or am I wrong?

Written Answers — Hospital Services: Hospital Services (31 Jan 2006)

Mary Harney: Cancer patients in the south east who require radiotherapy are referred to St. Luke's Hospital Dublin and Cork University Hospital. Two radiation oncologists, one from each hospital, have sessional commitments at the hospitals in the south east. The more recent appointment in September 2005 is a joint appointment with Cork University Hospital. She has a five sessional commitment to the south...

Written Answers — Hospitals Building Programme: Hospitals Building Programme (31 Jan 2006)

Mary Harney: I propose to take Questions Nos. 136, 137, 174, 203 and 316 together. The Mater and children's hospital development is the largest single capital development project in the HSE capital programme. It involves the redevelopment of the Mater campus to include considerably expanded and improved facilities for the Mater itself, and the construction of new, purpose-built accommodation which will...

Written Answers — Medical Cards: Medical Cards (31 Jan 2006)

Mary Harney: I am informed by the Health Service Executive that in January 2006, 1,155,727 people had medical cards, which is 10,644 more than the corresponding figure, 1,145,083, for January 2005. I made a number of significant changes in 2005 to make it easier for people to qualify for a medical card or a GP visit card. The income guidelines and the income allowances for children, which are taken into...

Written Answers — Infectious Diseases: Infectious Diseases (31 Jan 2006)

Mary Harney: I propose to take Questions Nos. 139, 144 and 157 together. Avian influenza, bird flu, is an infectious disease of birds caused by type A strains of the influenza virus. The Department of Agriculture and Food is responsible for controlling avian influenza in birds and mammals other than humans. That Department has put in place a range of measures aimed at maintaining Ireland's avian flu free...

Written Answers — Accident and Emergency Services: Accident and Emergency Services (31 Jan 2006)

Mary Harney: I propose to take Questions Nos. 141 and 244 together. A wide-ranging approach has been adopted by the Health Service Executive to improve access to accident and emergency services, improve patient flows through accident and emergency departments, reduce waiting times, free up acute beds and provide appropriate longer term care for patients outside of the acute hospital setting. A particular...

Written Answers — Accident and Emergency Services: Accident and Emergency Services (31 Jan 2006)

Mary Harney: My Department is advised by the Health Service Executive that the reason for the discrepancy between the INO figures and the HSE figures for the numbers of people waiting on trolleys in accident and emergency departments is that the figures are compiled at different times of the day. The INO figures are collected at 8 a.m. each day, while the HSE figures are collected at 2 p.m.

Written Answers — Health Services: Health Services (31 Jan 2006)

Mary Harney: As the Deputy's question in regard to waiting lists relates to the management and delivery of health and personal social services, which is the responsibility of the Health Service Executive under the Health Act 2004, the parliamentary affairs division of the executive has been asked to arrange to have this matter investigated and to have a reply issued directly to the Deputy. The total...

Written Answers — Hospital Procedures: Hospital Procedures (31 Jan 2006)

Mary Harney: I propose to take Questions Nos. 146 and 241 together. In an era of evidence based medicine, we must also have evidence based management. It is widely agreed that the most developed system for assessing comparative efficiency and for creating incentives within the acute hospital sector, and for encouraging good performance, is casemix. It assists hospital managers to define their workload,...

Written Answers — Medicinal Products: Medicinal Products (31 Jan 2006)

Mary Harney: Supply shortages of particular drugs usually arise from regulatory or manufacturing difficulties. These shortages are usually unforeseeable and of short duration. In many cases, there are already reimbursable alternative products available through the community drug schemes or, in some instances, only some dosages in the product range are unavailable. As soon as my Department becomes aware of...

Written Answers — Medical Inquiries: Medical Inquiries (31 Jan 2006)

Mary Harney: Following the Medical Council's investigation into the conduct of Dr. Michael Neary which found him guilty of professional misconduct in relation to ten patients, the Government decided in April 2004 to establish a non-statutory inquiry, the Lourdes Hospital inquiry, chaired by Judge Maureen Harding Clark. I met the chairperson of the inquiry on 27 January last and received her report....

Written Answers — Health Services: Health Services (31 Jan 2006)

Mary Harney: Sleep apnoea is a condition that interrupts breathing while asleep. This is usually caused by an obstruction blocking the back of the throat so that the air cannot reach the patient's lungs. The cessation of breathing automatically forces the sufferer to wake up in order to start breathing again. This can happen many times during the night, making it hard for the body to get enough oxygen,...

Written Answers — Organ Retention: Organ Retention (31 Jan 2006)

Mary Harney: I propose to take Questions Nos. 152 and 221 together. The Madden report on post mortem practice and procedure, which I published recently, contains some 50 recommendations. Some of the recommendations are exclusively the remit of my Department, for example, the formulation of human tissue legislation, others are a matter for the HSE, for example, an audit of organs retained in hospitals, and...

Written Answers — Hospital Staff: Hospital Staff (31 Jan 2006)

Mary Harney: I propose to take Questions Nos. 153 and 177 together. The new consultant's contract will set out in detail formal employment arrangements for consultants practising exclusively in the public sector. The impact of the new contract on proposals to locate private facilities on public hospital sites will fall to be considered as part of the transition to the new contract.