Results 11,961-11,980 of 45,789 for speaker:Simon Harris

Questions on Promised Legislation (3 May 2017)

Simon Harris: I thank Deputy Doherty for raising this important and sensitive matter. I would be happy to discuss it further with the Deputy and, in due course, to meet the family in question.

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Hospitals Patronage (3 May 2017)

Simon Harris: I thank Deputy Kelleher for the question. As the Deputy is aware and will appreciate, voluntary and non-statutory providers, including religious bodies, have historically played an important role in the provision of health and social services in Ireland. It is fair to say the current arrangements have grown out of a complicated past. Policy must reflect current realities as well as...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Hospitals Patronage (3 May 2017)

Simon Harris: I largely agree with the Deputy. In the coming weeks I intend to go to Cabinet with proposals to put in place a process and structure to have this conversation. I am open to ideas from Opposition parties but I suggest that the forum on pluralism and patronage undertaken by the Department of Education and Skills in 2012 is a model that can work quite well. There would be a degree of public...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Hospitals Patronage (3 May 2017)

Simon Harris: That is right. We will also have to be very much aware of the financial implications of this.

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Hospitals Patronage (3 May 2017)

Simon Harris: That should be an important part of the discussion. If it is the will of the people in this country that we should embark on divestment and purchasing sites and hospitals, it means we are suggesting that we use part of the finite health budget to buy hospital facilities that are currently available to us and providing a service. Perhaps that is the direction we need to take, but we must...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: National Maternity Hospital (3 May 2017)

Simon Harris: I welcome the Deputy's agreement that it is important that we have a conversation on future ownership and governance of the health service. It would be both very important and timely. In fact, it is overdue. Let us remember and recall how we arrived at this point in the case of the National Maternity Hospital. Following extensive mediation discussions, agreement was reached late last...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: National Maternity Hospital (3 May 2017)

Simon Harris: It is important to note that the arrangements in respect of this new hospital were published by my Department on 24 November 2016 of last year. The statement of 24 November covered all of these issues, including the ownership of the company, clinical independence and the composition of the board. As such, that information was first put in the public domain on 24 November which is a point it...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: National Maternity Hospital (3 May 2017)

Simon Harris: No matter how often I say it, the Deputy will never be convinced or accept it because she wants to be in the politics of protest while I want to be involved in the politics of solutions.

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: National Maternity Hospital (3 May 2017)

Simon Harris: The people of this country want a new national maternity hospital which they need and deserve. If the Deputy does not believe me, she should go down to the hospital and speak to those who deliver services.

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: National Maternity Hospital (3 May 2017)

Simon Harris: Fine. She has said that.

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: National Maternity Hospital (3 May 2017)

Simon Harris: That is fine. The Deputy has said that and no matter how often she says it is church-controlled, it will not be. We have heard the public's concerns and I want to use the next month to further engage with the hospitals, which is the appropriate thing to do. It is what a politician does when he or she listens to public concern. I will further engage on the issues, including the issue of...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: National Maternity Hospital (3 May 2017)

Simon Harris: Has she considered the fact that the National Maternity Hospital at Holles Street today is a voluntary hospital and not a HSE-owned one? This hospital will have full clinical independence and provide every service a women needs. Dr. Rhona Mahony and Professor Declan Keane have said it. Many doctors have said it. It will be robust in its clinical, budgetary and financial independence. We...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: National Maternity Hospital (3 May 2017)

Simon Harris: I do not answer to the Bishop of Elphin.

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: National Maternity Hospital (3 May 2017)

Simon Harris: I apologise.

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Hospital Consultant Recruitment (3 May 2017)

Simon Harris: I thank Deputy Pringle for asking this important question. Letterkenny University Hospital provides essential and high-quality hospital care to patients in the north-west. I assure the Deputy of the continued commitment to develop services at the hospital as evidenced by the significant number of completed and ongoing capital projects there. In addition, Letterkenny has been leading the...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Hospital Consultant Recruitment (3 May 2017)

Simon Harris: That is the endocrinologist.

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Hospital Consultant Recruitment (3 May 2017)

Simon Harris: I assure the Deputy that a great deal more than meetings is happening. I have evidenced that in the fact that we have already seen some new consultant surgeons specialising in colorectal and general surgery appointed as well as a new consultant anaesthetist. A number of further posts are currently undergoing a recruitment process. I will take up with the Saolta group the point the Deputy...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Hospital Consultant Recruitment (3 May 2017)

Simon Harris: I will certainly raise these points with the Saolta group and will revert to the Deputy directly on them. He makes a fair point on patients travelling to Galway when, as he knows, part of the agreement on establishing a satellite unit was that it was not just meant to be patients travelling to Galway but consultants travelling to Letterkenny. This is a point I took up with the Saolta...

Other Questions: Hospital Beds Data (3 May 2017)

Simon Harris: I thank Deputy Chambers for the question and I will endeavour to give him as full an explanation as possible. The reason the HSE has ceased reporting the number of private beds in public hospitals is that since 2014, as referenced by the Deputy, all private patients are charged in a similar manner, and the charges set for private patients are no longer set with reference to being in private...

Other Questions: Hospital Beds Data (3 May 2017)

Simon Harris: I thank Deputy Chambers. I revert back to my original point, which is this first became a public policy issue in an effort by the Oireachtas to respond to the Comptroller and Auditor General highlighting an important issue. The question for the Oireachtas, and I hope the analysis I will provide to it shortly on the impact this has had on the private-public mix in public hospitals can enable...