Results 5,361-5,380 of 45,539 for speaker:Simon Harris

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Health Services Staff Recruitment (2 Jun 2016)

Simon Harris: No, the health service must be cognisant of its budget. I am sure many areas of the public service need more front-line staff. I am aware that the public service went through an extraordinarily difficult time and that an increase in the numbers of front-line staff is needed. We increased staff numbers in 2015 and will increase them again this year and in subsequent years. However, if the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Health Services Staff Recruitment (2 Jun 2016)

Simon Harris: Of course, I speak to front-line staff. No one here has exclusivity on speaking to them and I will continue to speak regularly with them, as will, I am sure, Deputies from all sides. While staff accept that the economy is recovering because more money is being invested in the health service, they would be the first to tell me and I would be the first to agree that we must do much more to...

Other Questions: Hospital Waiting Lists (2 Jun 2016)

Simon Harris: I look forward to working with Deputy Kelleher in his role as his party's spokesperson on health, a role he has carried out for a number of years. Improving access for patients is a key objective for our public health service. The 2016 HSE service plan undertakes to maintain 2015 levels of service in respect of scheduled care and to continue to address waiting times as part of the...

Other Questions: Hospital Waiting Lists (2 Jun 2016)

Simon Harris: The Deputy has made a fair point in regard to the 15 month target. As I said earlier, some 94% of patients are being seen within that 15 month target and 60% of patients are being seen within the six month period. However, we must continue to try to do better. What we see here is a direct result of a period of difficult economic decisions, through the time Fine Gael was in government...

Other Questions: Hospital Waiting Lists (2 Jun 2016)

Simon Harris: The Deputy is correct. I recently met some of the representatives of radiographers and I am aware that the latter are willing to do more within the public health service. We are exploring with the HSE the additional tasks they want to take on, which will lessen the burden on other parts of our health service. Where health service professionals put their hands up and say they are willing to...

Other Questions: Hospital Consultant Recruitment (2 Jun 2016)

Simon Harris: There are 28 consultants employed at Portiuncula University Hospital, while three posts are vacant. This hospital, like many other smaller hospitals, has difficulty filling certain posts and relies on locums to fill posts pending permanent appointments. Of the 28 consultants in post, five are currently employed as locums. The hospital is focused on filling posts on a permanent basis,...

Other Questions: Hospital Consultant Recruitment (2 Jun 2016)

Simon Harris: I thank the Deputy and I do assure him of that. The process of increasing both the number of consultants working in the hospital and the number working on a permanent basis, rather than on a locum basis, is the intention of the HSE and the Saolta hospital group. Three locum posts will convert to permanent posts later this year, two in September and one in October. In addition, we will...

Other Questions: Hospital Services (2 Jun 2016)

Simon Harris: I am very conscious of the impact that long wait times in emergency departments can have on patients and their families, as well as on front-line staff. Last Monday I attended my first meeting of the emergency department, ED, task force implementation group, which is co-chaired by the director general of the HSE and Mr. Liam Doran of the INMO and which is providing focus and momentum in...

Other Questions: Hospital Services (2 Jun 2016)

Simon Harris: I am not in a position to reveal the figure for the winter initiative today but I will be shortly. The Taoiseach and the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform have made clear in this House that we will present our health Estimate, as well as all other Estimates for departmental Votes, in the next fortnight. I hope I will be able to provide clarity to Deputy O'Reilly in this regard at...

Other Questions: Hospital Services (2 Jun 2016)

Simon Harris: This is my first outing here, so I do not want to disappoint the Deputy at this early stage of our exchanges. The Deputy will know the figure within the next fortnight. In fact, she will know when I know. Obviously, we have to look at what did and did not work last year and what we did not look at last year that we should look at this year. That is the message I delivered to the emergency...

Other Questions: Hospital Services (2 Jun 2016)

Simon Harris: I thank Deputy Fleming for this question. I am committed to securing and further developing the role of the Midland Regional Hospital in Portlaoise as a constituent hospital within the Dublin midlands hospital group. Patient safety and outcomes must come first. As Deputy Fleming knows, a number of reports on the hospital in Portlaoise have been published in recent years. These reports...

Other Questions: Hospital Services (2 Jun 2016)

Simon Harris: I thank Deputy Fleming for his good wishes. I emphasise that no decision has been made on Portlaoise or on the services mentioned by the Deputy. Officials in the Department of Health have been liaising with the HSE on the significant body of work that needs to be done in relation to the draft report that has been drawn up by the HSE. This work will answer some of the significant questions...

Other Questions: Hospital Services (2 Jun 2016)

Simon Harris: The Deputy is right to acknowledge the additional staffing that has been provided at the hospital in recent years. According to the information that is available to me, an additional 65 posts have been filled at Portlaoise Hospital since 2014, comprising 17 medical posts, ten nursing posts, five allied health professionals, 24 patient and client care staff and nine administrative staff. I...

Other Questions: Hospital Services (2 Jun 2016)

Simon Harris: It is a breakdown of the 65 posts. I will send that to the Deputy.

Other Questions: Health Services Funding (2 Jun 2016)

Simon Harris: In January 2015, my predecessor introduced maximum permissible waiting times for inpatient and day case treatment and outpatient appointments of 18 months by 30 June and 15 months by year end. As the House will know, additional funding of €51 million was approved in 2015 to maximise capacity across public and voluntary hospitals as well as outsourcing activity where capacity was not...

Other Questions: Health Services Funding (2 Jun 2016)

Simon Harris: I also fully support the public health service and want to see investment in it, and I want to see the committee we set up yesterday devise a vision, a plan and funding costs for how to get the service to the place we all want it to be over the next decade.

Other Questions: Health Services Funding (2 Jun 2016)

Simon Harris: I also recognise the NTPF as a useful vehicle at a time when there are people at home who could be watching our questions session today and who are in need of an operation, where perhaps the capacity does not currently exist within the public health service.

Other Questions: Health Services Funding (2 Jun 2016)

Simon Harris: While we will disagree on the extent of that, it is very much my position and that of the Government. With regard to the €50 million, €51 million was provided in 2015 and the Deputy is correct in regard to the ministerial briefing. Some of that funding has spilled over into 2016 in terms of pay. The €50 million referred to in the programme for Government is not...

Other Questions: Health Services Funding (2 Jun 2016)

Simon Harris: I expect that €50 million of the health budget next year will be allocated to waiting list initiatives. As I said, I will be looking at how best to outline that. I will provide the Deputy with some of the figures later.

Written Answers — Department of Health: Departmental Management Structures (2 Jun 2016)

Simon Harris: The Public Service Management Act, 1997, gives Secretaries General the power to assign responsibility for the performance of functions to officers of a department. Work is assigned by the Secretary General in my Department to areas where the skills and expertise reside in order to have the work completed as effectively and efficiently as possible. Responsibility for abortion policy is under...