Results 11,981-12,000 of 45,789 for speaker:Simon Harris

Other Questions: Hospital Beds Data (3 May 2017)

Simon Harris: My God, I certainly hope I will be. I will not take a lecture from the Fianna Fáil Party on how to run a health service when I still find myself having to try to unpick some of the structural difficulties with which it left me through the creation of the HSE, which has become an awful bureaucratic scenario that we must pare back. One of the first decisions taken by this House on a...

Other Questions: Ambulance Service Response Times (3 May 2017)

Simon Harris: I propose to take Questions Nos. 9, 13, 29, 44, 46 and 76 together. Ambulance turnaround times measure the time interval from ambulance arrival at a hospital, to when the crew is ready to accept another call. When the emergency care system is under pressure, there is the potential for delay in the transfer of care of patients from ambulance to emergency department personnel. I accept...

Other Questions: Ambulance Service Response Times (3 May 2017)

Simon Harris: I assure Deputy Ó Cuív that the way we are going to make sure that people throughout this country, regardless of whether they live in rural or urban areas, get better access to ambulances in a more timely manner is by investing in the national ambulance service. That is what we are doing. The €7.2 million of extra funding in 2016 for the service will be supplemented by a...

Other Questions: Ambulance Service Response Times (3 May 2017)

Simon Harris: I thank Deputy Chambers. I will follow up on the figures and how authoritative they are and revert to the Deputy directly. On a general point, before dealing with the Mayo-specific issue, the national ambulance service received 859 calls per day on average in March. That is 26,629 calls over the full month of March. Of all of those calls we saw 1,668 ambulances delayed for greater than...

Other Questions: Ambulance Service Response Times (3 May 2017)

Simon Harris: I had the honour of visiting Galway University Hospital recently to talk to staff, patients and management. The clear need is for a new emergency department, which has been much talked about for many years and which we will deliver. I have provided the funding for the design team which is being appointed and it is important that its work is completed as quickly as possible so that I can...

Other Questions: Ambulance Service Response Times (3 May 2017)

Simon Harris: I always enjoy talking to staff in the health service and I have visited 48 of our hospitals in the past year. The Deputy makes an important point about trolley figures. The INMO produces its own trolley watch and its members have clear guidelines, as does the HSE, as to what constitutes a trolley as opposed to an additional bed. Its figures are published on a daily basis and the HSE...

Other Questions: Stroke Care (3 May 2017)

Simon Harris: I always listen to the Deputy's sensible suggestions. The national clinical programme for stroke has been in place since early 2010. The vision of the programme is to design standardised models of integrated care pathways for the delivery of clinical care. Early supported discharge is a rehabilitation programme that aims to accelerate discharge home from hospital and provide rehabilitation...

Other Questions: Stroke Care (3 May 2017)

Simon Harris: There is certainly no problem. We are not just saying it works and is that not great; we are actually saying it works and let us do more in 2017. That is why we are providing additional funding this year to increase the staffing in the three existing early supported discharge stroke teams and to develop two new teams. As I have outlined to the Deputy, the cost of that is €460,051...

Other Questions: Stroke Care (3 May 2017)

Simon Harris: I accept it is a very genuine issue. The Deputy will also accept that I cannot deliver the budget for 2018 now at the start of May. However, my Department is working with the HSE to prepare the business and health case for the roll-out of early supported discharge services throughout the country. That is the work the Department of Health is undertaking with the HSE. I would like to see...

Other Questions: Brexit Issues (3 May 2017)

Simon Harris: I have taken part in a number of Brexit-related meetings, including at the North-South Ministerial Council. I have also met the European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development; the UK Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Health; the European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety; the Northern Ireland Minister for Health; the UK Secretary of State for Health; the executive...

Other Questions: Brexit Issues (3 May 2017)

Simon Harris: I know.

Other Questions: Brexit Issues (3 May 2017)

Simon Harris: I take it very seriously, which is why I have had meetings with the Northern Ireland Minister for Health. If we had a Northern Ireland Minister for Health now, I would be able to have another meeting with the Northern Ireland Minister for Health on Brexit. It is being taken very seriously by me and by the Government. We saw the benefit of this being taken seriously by all of Government in...

Other Questions: Brexit Issues (3 May 2017)

Simon Harris: I could not agree more. I assure the Deputy that that is the Government's perspective and that is exactly what we are working towards. When I meet the UK Secretary of State for Health, the Northern Ireland health Minister or the European Commission, this is what we are discussing. Like all Government Ministers, I am making people throughout the European Union aware of the importance of...

Other Questions: Hospital Waiting Lists (3 May 2017)

Simon Harris: I thank Deputy Healy-Rae for asking this question, which he has raised with me and takes very seriously, about people waiting for cataract operations. I wish to acknowledge that ophthalmology waiting times in the south-south west hospital group are often unacceptably long. I am conscious, as the Deputy has made clear to me, of the adverse impact that can have on somebody's life. ...

Other Questions: Hospital Waiting Lists (3 May 2017)

Simon Harris: In fairness, the Deputy has been highlighting this for some time. I am grateful for the meeting the Deputy arranged for me to have. I see there is a willingness and a desire in Kerry to try to come up with a local solution to this. The Deputy will understand that through the NTPF we have provided funding for non-public hospitals in the private sector to apply for. The procurement and...

Maternity Services: Motion [Private Members] (3 May 2017)

Simon Harris: 6 o’clock I move amendment No. 1:1. To delete all words after “Dáil Éireann” and substitute the following: “notes:— that Irish maternity services compare favourably with those in other countries in terms of safety and patient outcomes; — the publication, in January 2016, of Ireland’s first National Maternity Strategy (the...

Maternity Services: Motion [Private Members] (3 May 2017)

Simon Harris: Thank you.

Maternity Services: Motion [Private Members] (3 May 2017)

Simon Harris: What warning?

Maternity Services: Motion [Private Members] (3 May 2017)

Simon Harris: I said that.

Maternity Services: Motion [Private Members] (3 May 2017)

Simon Harris: I want to thank everybody who has contributed and who will contribute to what I believe has been an important and good debate. I just want to pick up on a few points. I will begin with the issue of safety. This is an issue that many people have raised throughout the debate. Safety is and must remain an absolute priority in our health service in general. The Department and the HSE...