Results 7,981-8,000 of 24,635 for speaker:Mary Harney

Ambulance Service. (1 Nov 2006)

Mary Harney: Deputy Cowley is always outraged. Every time I reply to his questions, I get the same response. Last year, the HSE received an extra €1 billion, a 10% increase in resource allocation. I do not divvy up these moneys as autonomy and authority for them are vested in the HSE as a result of an Act passed by the House. It is the HSE's responsibility to use that money to provide for the...

Ambulance Service. (1 Nov 2006)

Mary Harney: That was July 2005. It is now almost 2007. Much more money since then has gone into the system.

Ambulance Service. (1 Nov 2006)

Mary Harney: Unlike Deputy Cowley, I am a full-time politician totally devoted to health reform. In addition to his parliamentary role, the Deputy is a practising GP with a large practice in the west. If he does not mind me saying so, he sometimes confuses those two roles. I am sure what he is saying will sound great on local radio tomorrow but the reality is that this country's increase in expenditure...

Hospital Services. (1 Nov 2006)

Mary Harney: Roscommon County Hospital and Portiuncula Hospital, Ballinasloe are closely linked and many consultant appointments are shared between the two hospitals. The HSE aims to maximise the range and volume of surgery and other services in each of the two hospitals by developing greater collaboration between them. This is designed to increase access by patients in Roscommon and east Galway-west...

Hospital Services. (1 Nov 2006)

Mary Harney: Surgical activity was of a low volume at both these hospitals. In the case of Roscommon County Hospital, I understand there were as few as two to four procedures per week. The only way to ensure a safe environment for treatment is to maintain the skill base of surgeons through higher volume activity. As has happened in County Louth, for example, Roscommon County Hospital and Portiuncula...

Hospital Services. (1 Nov 2006)

Mary Harney: Both those facilities now have a far higher volume of activity and shorter patient waiting times. Developments have taken place that it was previously believed would never occur. Provision has been made for a CAT scanner in Roscommon County Hospital and all the other developments to which the Deputy referred are proceeding. I understand the two consultants to whom the Deputy made reference...

Hospital Services. (1 Nov 2006)

Mary Harney: I believe it is true. I am not certain they worked in both hospitals but I understand they were appointed to both places.

Hospital Services. (1 Nov 2006)

Mary Harney: I said in my response that the new appointments would be to both hospitals. In other words, they will share anaesthetic and surgical staff and there will effectively be a single department operating on two sites. Subject to correction, I believe such posts were in the past appointed to both hospitals but it may not have operated in this way for training and other reasons. The main issue of...

Hospital Services. (1 Nov 2006)

Mary Harney: We are seeking to organise hospital services based on the need for patient safety. Procedures will continue to take place in a particular environment where it is safe for them to do so. Where it is unsafe for them to continue, there must be change. I have pointed on many occasions recently to the example of breast surgery. In 2003, the last year for which we have figures, of the 1,800...

Primary Care Services. (1 Nov 2006)

Mary Harney: The primary care strategy is the roadmap for the future development of primary care services in Ireland over a period of ten years, both as the appropriate service for the delivery of the majority of people's health and social care needs and to complement the services provided by acute hospitals. At the heart of the strategy is the aim of developing services in the community to give people...

Primary Care Services. (1 Nov 2006)

Mary Harney: Taking the last question first, we have increased the number of training posts by, I believe, approximately 17 this year. The college was not able to deal with anymore. I hope we can increase that further next year and provision is being made to do so. A number of general practitioners are prohibited under an industrial relations agreement with the Irish Medical Organisation to practice as...

Written Answers — Hospital Services: Hospital Services (1 Nov 2006)

Mary Harney: The HSE has advised my Department that the decision to transfer an individual patient from one hospital to another is a matter for the attending clinician and his or her team. Patient safety is the overriding factor in any inter-hospital transfer. There is no national protocol governing inter-hospital patient transfers. Any such protocol could only outline general principles and would have...

Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (1 Nov 2006)

Mary Harney: There are a range of public sector pension schemes in the health sector which have developed over time. In the past, health board employees would have been covered by the Local Government Superannuation Scheme while other health sector employees, in voluntary hospitals for example, would have been covered by the Voluntary Hospitals Superannuation Scheme or the Nominated Health Agencies...

Written Answers — Hospital Accommodation: Hospital Accommodation (1 Nov 2006)

Mary Harney: The co-location initiative is designed to deliver up to 1,000 new public beds at 10 public hospitals for an estimated tax cost of about €420 million, less than half the full capital cost. The tax cost will be offset by VAT and other taxes paid during construction. Lease payments at commercial rates in respect of public land will be paid by the private operators, in contrast with the...

Written Answers — Health Service Reform: Health Service Reform (1 Nov 2006)

Mary Harney: I propose to take Questions Nos. 94 and 183 together. The Audit of Structures and Functions in the Health System, published in 2003, found that the arrangements in place at the time were complex and fragmented. It identified the need for fundamental system-wide structural reform to move from fragmentation to consolidation and integration. This detailed analysis was accepted by the...

Written Answers — Hospital Staff: Hospital Staff (1 Nov 2006)

Mary Harney: Discussions on a new contract will resume in early November on the basis of a formula presented to the parties by the independent chairman, Mr Mark Connaughton S.C. It is the chairman's intention that the parties will engage in intensive negotiations over the next two months. Our objectives for a new consultant contract include: a consultant-provided rather than a consultant-led service;...

Written Answers — General Medical Services Scheme: General Medical Services Scheme (1 Nov 2006)

Mary Harney: The General Medical Services Scheme is largely a treatment based scheme which provides medical and other services for eligible persons from contracted general practitioners. Family planning services are available for medical card holders and GP visit card holders from the majority of GMS contract holding general practitioners. If a GP does not provide family planning services, he/she is...

Written Answers — Hospital Staff: Hospital Staff (1 Nov 2006)

Mary Harney: The HSE has advised me that restrictions were introduced on consultant surgeons in Cavan and Monaghan performing major Gastro-Intestinal surgery in 2003 following the suspension of two consultants. Consultants are no longer precluded from carrying out major GI surgery in Cavan. These restrictions reflected concerns regarding the then heavy reliance on locum consultants at both sites, and...

Written Answers — Ambulance Service: Ambulance Service (1 Nov 2006)

Mary Harney: As part of the reform of the health service a National Ambulance Office has been established within the Health Service Executive (HSE). It has responsibility for the provision of pre-hospital emergency care nationally. The most significant development in the sector for many years is the roll-out of the Advanced Paramedic Training Programme. The introduction of the programme required two...

Written Answers — Hospitals Building Programme: Hospitals Building Programme (1 Nov 2006)

Mary Harney: New hospitals are being developed in Dublin under a variety of initiatives. The Government has mandated the Health Service Executive to move forward with the development of a new national tertiary paediatric hospital on a site to be made available by the Mater Hospital. A joint HSE/Department of Health and Children Transition Group has been established for this purpose. Among the key items...