Results 13,441-13,460 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Written Answers — Department of Health: HSE Agency Staff Expenditure (24 Feb 2015)

Leo Varadkar: The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform announced in budget 2014 that he intends to delegate greater autonomy to Departments and Agencies to manage their own staffing levels. The change from the application of a rigid employment control framework, with its particular focus on a moratorium on recruitment and compliance with employment ceilings and targets, to one operating strictly...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Hospital Services (24 Feb 2015)

Leo Varadkar: I understand that the HSE wrote to you on 10 Feb in relation to this matter. In relation to your further query, I have asked the HSE to respond to you directly. If you have not received a reply from the HSE within 15 working days please contact my Private Office and my officials will follow the matter up with them.

Written Answers — Department of Health: Graduate Nursing Scheme (24 Feb 2015)

Leo Varadkar: Under the Haddington Road Agreement (HRA), nurses and midwives participating in the Graduate Nurse Programme are paid 85% of the first point of the Staff Nurse/Midwifery Scale in the first year, €23,129, and 90% in the second year, €24,490. Slightly higher scales apply for Mental Health Nurses, €23,667 in the first year and €25,059 in the second year, maintaining...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Hospital Waiting Lists (24 Feb 2015)

Leo Varadkar: As this is a service matter, I have asked the HSE to respond to you directly. If you have not received a reply from the HSE within 15 working days please contact my Private Office and my officials will follow the matter up with them.

Written Answers — Department of Health: Hospital Services (24 Feb 2015)

Leo Varadkar: The Deputy's question relates to service delivery matters and accordingly I have asked the HSE to respond directly to him. If you have not received a reply from the HSE within 15 working days please contact my Private Office and they will follow up the matter with them.

Written Answers — Department of Health: Patient Transfers (24 Feb 2015)

Leo Varadkar: As this is a service matter, I have asked the HSE to respond to you directly. If you have not received a reply from the HSE within 15 working days please contact my Private Office and my officials will follow the matter up with them.

Written Answers — Department of Health: Hospital Appointment Status (24 Feb 2015)

Leo Varadkar: The scheduling of appointments for patients is a matter for the hospital to which the patient has been referred. Should a patient's general practitioner consider that the patient's condition warrants an earlier appointment, he or she would be in the best position to take the matter up with the consultant and hospital involved. In relation to the specific case raised, as this is a service...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Ambulance Service Staff (24 Feb 2015)

Leo Varadkar: As this is a service matter, I have asked the HSE to respond to you directly. If you have not received a reply from the HSE within 15 working days please contact my Private Office and my officials will follow the matter up with them.

Written Answers — Department of Health: Hospital Staff (24 Feb 2015)

Leo Varadkar: I have asked the HSE to respond to the Deputy directly on the matter. If you have not received a reply from the HSE within 15 working days please contact my Private Office and they will follow up the matter with them.

Written Answers — Department of Health: Hospital Transfers (24 Feb 2015)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 494 and 495 together. In relation to the particular patient query raised by you, as these are service matters, I have asked the HSE to respond to you directly. If you have not received a reply from the HSE within 15 working days please contact my Private Office and my officials will follow the matter up with them.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Universal Health Insurance Provision (25 Feb 2015)

Leo Varadkar: I am aware of the WHO report referred to by the Deputy. My Department provided information and observations on an early draft of that report. The report emphasises the need for reform of our health services and acknowledges that the Government is the first in the history of the State to commit to the principle of a universal, single tier health service which guarantees access to medical...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Universal Health Insurance Provision (25 Feb 2015)

Leo Varadkar: I can only give a two-part answer to that. The first part is to advise the Deputy of the plan, which we are currently enacting. First, we will extend tax-funded GP care without fees to the oldest and youngest in society. Once that is done, hopefully, by the summer, we then wish to enter contract negotiations with the Irish Medical Organisation, IMO, on extending it other groups, including...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Universal Health Insurance Provision (25 Feb 2015)

Leo Varadkar: Universal health care is a group term that can mean many different things. It can be a fully tax-funded system like the British National Health Service, a system with a mix of co-payments, a system that involves compulsory health insurance using a social insurance model or a competitive compulsory private insurance model. There are many different ways to achieve universal health care....

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Hospital Services (25 Feb 2015)

Leo Varadkar: University Hospital Waterford's regional cardiology interventional suite opened in 2008 and serves a population of almost 500,000 people. In 2012, the suite was identified as the designated primary PCI centre for the region, under the national clinical programme for acute coronary syndrome. Its services cover Waterford, Kilkenny, south Tipperary and Wexford. The centre currently has one...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Hospital Services (25 Feb 2015)

Leo Varadkar: I do not know the details of the case to which the Deputy referred.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Hospital Services (25 Feb 2015)

Leo Varadkar: I do not have access to patients' files and I doubt Deputy Halligan does either. I think it inappropriate to raise such cases in the Dáil unless the Deputy has full access and expert knowledge of the case. I do not know whether that is the case. I may be incorrect, but at any given time in University Hospital Waterford there will be a consultant physician on call, if not a consultant...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Hospital Services (25 Feb 2015)

Leo Varadkar: It is not standard practice for the Government to do business plans. Maybe it was done by the hospital group.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Hospital Services (25 Feb 2015)

Leo Varadkar: I will answer the question if I am not interrupted.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Hospital Services (25 Feb 2015)

Leo Varadkar: I am not aware of the preparation of any business plan by the Government. Business plans for services are generally done by a hospital, a hospital group or the HSE. To ensure that lives are protected, it is important that any specialist service has adequate throughput, which means enough patients and in sufficient volume to ensure quality, critical mass and specialisation. It must also be...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: HSE Funding (25 Feb 2015)

Leo Varadkar: The gross provision for the health Vote in 2015 is €12.677 billion, comprising €12.295 billion in current expenditure and €382 million in capital expenditure. Following restatement on a like-for-like basis consistent with the new Vote structure, the Exchequer funding provided in 2015 represents an increase of €564 million on the original 2014 provision. In...