Results 7,501-7,520 of 21,128 for speaker:James Reilly

Hospital Staff (15 Feb 2012)

James Reilly: I am trying to explain to the Deputy that the hospital can make increased use of existing beds, day case surgeries and theatres. The productive theatre initiative in Cork and elsewhere has resulted in a significant increase in the volume of work that theatres can manage. It saved €2.5 million in one year across five theatres. That is only 2.5% of the total number of theatres. I have...

Patient Redress Scheme (15 Feb 2012)

James Reilly: I thank Deputy Ó Caoláin and his party leader, who may have gone up to the Gallery, for raising this matter. While we have our issues of dispute, we also have our areas of agreement and this is one area in which we were both involved prior to last year's general election. I am committed to finding a mechanism to compensate those women who were excluded on age grounds alone from the Our...

Patient Redress Scheme (15 Feb 2012)

James Reilly: The commitment in the programme for Government is very clear and it defines the people concerned who were excluded on age grounds alone. In further meetings with Patient Focus I gave an undertaking to review the other cases and that review is ongoing. The Deputy has asked for some certainty and clarity on how much longer this process will take. Having spoken to officials no more than ten...

Patient Redress Scheme (15 Feb 2012)

James Reilly: I believe I have made my position clear and in so far as I can offer certainty, the certainty I have offered is that in the coming weeks we will be engaging with those who were excluded on age grounds and that I will bring proposals to Cabinet to bring a very stressful situation for them to an end as soon as is practicably possible. Regarding the people who are outside that, whom the Deputy...

Hospital Staff (15 Feb 2012)

James Reilly: The HSE's national service plan 2012 commits to significantly reducing the volume of agency staff usage, with a target reduction of up to 50%. The plan also notes that the transposition into Irish law of the temporary agency workers directive will increase the unit cost of agency staffing. The service plan contains a commitment that overtime and agency staffing are not to be used to support...

Hospital Staff (15 Feb 2012)

James Reilly: I thank the Deputy opposite for raising this and I accept her concerns. However, different areas require different skill mixes. There is some rather bad mismatching of some of our services at the moment. I was examining our situation vis-À-vis nursing ratios to health care assistants in some of our community nursing units. In some cases the ratio is not even 1:1 and there are more nurses...

Hospital Staff (15 Feb 2012)

James Reilly: Deputy Murphy has raised an issue about the distribution of services at times. One need not go as far away as Donegal to find the issues. One need only consider the difference in the services for children with autism in Dublin, north and south, and the disparity in place. I have made it clear to those running the services that they must consult with the Minister of State, Deputy Lynch, and...

Hospital Staff (15 Feb 2012)

James Reilly: I will answer the last question first. It is straightforward. There is a moratorium on staff recruitment. Therefore, no new staff can be recruited. However, I have already informed the House that we are recruiting staff and this is where the flexibility lies. It will arise in areas where it is essential to replace staff to maintain a safe service. For example, Deputy Kelleher raised the...

Eating Disorders (15 Feb 2012)

James Reilly: I thank Deputy Buttimer for raising this important and topical issue. The prevalence of overweight and obesity has increased at alarming speed in recent decades, to the extent that the World Health Organisation terms it a "global epidemic". I saw an alarming slide produced at a talk I attended on the spread of obesity. It traced the spread throughout the USA starting in the 1960s. State...

Eating Disorders (15 Feb 2012)

James Reilly: Most of the big food chains have responded with regard to posting calorie information. I congratulate those contributing to debate on this issue in a progressive fashion and I look forward to meeting them in the not too distant future. Those who have responded include McDonald's, Kentucky Fried Chicken and others. People are entitled to make informed decisions. If they do not know the...

Eating Disorders (15 Feb 2012)

James Reilly: I acknowledge the great cross-party co-operation there has been on this issue. As we are aware, obesity plays a significant role in stroke, high blood pressure and diabetes. It is worth repeating what I said last night, that if we do not address this issue, we may well be the first generation to bury the generation that follows us. In my earlier career as a GP, I never saw young people...

Hospital Waiting Lists (15 Feb 2012)

James Reilly: It is very important to clarify immediately the correct information with regard to numbers waiting for procedures and the average waiting times. Waiting times have certainly not increased by 55%. I think the Deputy may have got confused between the increase in numbers waiting and the length of time patients are waiting. Between the end of December 2010 and 2012 the numbers waiting over 12...

Hospital Waiting Lists (15 Feb 2012)

James Reilly: I will be very clear. The special delivery unit was formed in June and became operational in September 2011. At that time the number of patients waiting longer than 12 months if they had not been treated by the end of December 2011 would have been 14,000. I have no doubt that had the special delivery unit not taken the action it had, we would have many thousands of people waiting longer...

Hospital Waiting Lists (15 Feb 2012)

James Reilly: Nobody is attempting to pretend that activity is any better than it is. This is measurable and real. I hope the Deputy is not disputing the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation trolley count, which is also very real.

Hospital Waiting Lists (15 Feb 2012)

James Reilly: Earlier, with sotto voce, the Deputy mentioned the word "could" and left out the word "if" from a gentleman's statement. I put it to the Deputy that many of the 14,000 patients may have been treated anyway but I am not so certain that would have been the case.

Hospital Procedures (15 Feb 2012)

James Reilly: I propose to take Questions Nos. 10 and 30 together. My Department has just received a draft report from the independent academic researcher appointed to complete a report into the practice of symphysiotomy in Ireland. I have asked the Attorney General to consider the draft report and subject to her views, I propose to make the draft report available for consultation by interested parties....

Hospital Procedures (15 Feb 2012)

James Reilly: I reject the Deputy's contention that this was a barbaric act, although its use in certain circumstances may well transpire to have been utterly inappropriate. It was a standard procedure at one time and it was reintroduced to certain Irish hospitals in the 1940s as a clinical response to the limitation imposed by specifically Catholic religious and ideological circumstances. The primary...

Hospital Procedures (15 Feb 2012)

James Reilly: I have given the Deputy the most comprehensive answer I can. I will add only that where this procedure was used inappropriately - there were instances, apparently, where it was used after a baby's delivery, which is utterly disgraceful - it will be examined by the Attorney General, with action taken to redress the issue for the women who went through unnecessary pain. There were consequent...

Private Members' Business. Stroke Services: Statements (Resumed) (15 Feb 2012)

James Reilly: That is a scurrilous statement. The Deputy should not insult workers.

Written Answers — Hospital Waiting Lists: Hospital Waiting Lists (15 Feb 2012)

James Reilly: The Special Delivery Unit was established in my Department last July to tackle patient wait times for hospital services. Unacceptably high wait times have been tolerated for too long and have become systemic for both unscheduled and scheduled care. The problems have to be tackled step by step so that improvements can be sustained. The SDU immediately began work with the HSE and the NTPF on...