Results 14,161-14,180 of 24,635 for speaker:Mary Harney

Written Answers — Health Services: Health Services (24 Apr 2008)

Mary Harney: The Deputy's question relates to the management and delivery of health and personal social services, which are the responsibility of the Health Service Executive under the Health Act 2004. Accordingly, my Department has requested the Parliamentary Affairs Division of the Executive to arrange to have this matter investigated and to have a reply issued directly to the Deputy.

Written Answers — Parliamentary Questions: Parliamentary Questions (24 Apr 2008)

Mary Harney: Responding to the information needs of the Oireachtas and the public is a priority for my Department and is a regular agenda item at meetings between myself and the Chief Executive Officer of the Health Service Executive. The provision of replies to Parliamentary Questions on the HSE website is one of a number of measures the Executive has taken as part of an ongoing process of meeting its...

Written Answers — Decentralisation Programme: Decentralisation Programme (24 Apr 2008)

Mary Harney: As the Deputy will be aware my Department is not one of the Departments scheduled for decentralisation under the Government's Decentralisation Programme. To date fifty-four civil servants have transferred to decentralising Departments from my Department (three of whom have transferred since 1 January 2008). Further details in respect of the transfer of these officers are available from the...

Departmental Expenditure. (29 Apr 2008)

Mary Harney: Our democratic system means that, fundamentally, there is no public spending decision without a tax decision. The two cannot, and should not, be separated. That is why both expenditure Votes and taxes are set by the Oireachtas annually around the same time, and both have to be adhered to. The Oireachtas has voted a budget for the HSE for 2008 from resources provided by taxpayers....

Departmental Expenditure. (29 Apr 2008)

Mary Harney: The Deputy may not be aware but what happens in the Estimates bid from every Department, including when the health boards existed, was that those health boards would make their bid. The Minister for Health and Children engages in discussions with the Minister for Finance and a budget limit is agreed.

Departmental Expenditure. (29 Apr 2008)

Mary Harney: I am explaining there is a finite amount of money which the Minister for Finance can allocate across Departments. The line Ministers discuss this with the Minister for Finance and this is how the budget is agreed for health, education or whatever it might be. The Deputy's colleague, Deputy Bruton, has been lecturing us about slicing off 2% for value for money initiatives across the public...

Departmental Expenditure. (29 Apr 2008)

Mary Harney: As I informed the Deputy on a number of occasions and as I have repeated publicly, I have discussed this with the chairman and board of the HSE, which I addressed recently, and with the chief executive officer of the HSE. If there are people in one area in the health service who are superfluous to requirements while there are shortages in other areas, we must make decisions. A manpower...

Accident and Emergency Services. (29 Apr 2008)

Mary Harney: A total of 184,159 people attended accident and emergency departments in January and February this year. Of these, one third, about 61,000, were admitted as inpatients. The vast majority of these patients were admitted without delay. The HSE reports daily at 2 p.m. on the numbers of remaining patients who have not been admitted immediately. The report cites the waiting times as being...

Accident and Emergency Services. (29 Apr 2008)

Mary Harney: We have made significant progress and this has been acknowledged by every single group. I refer to the significant progress made in dealing with waiting times in accident and emergency departments. There has been a 60% improvement in the past three years. I remind the Deputy that up to then, waiting times were never measured and we had no target times whatsoever.

Accident and Emergency Services. (29 Apr 2008)

Mary Harney: The accident and emergency initiatives we have funded through the HSE and for which we have set targets through the HSE are the final responsibility of each hospital. Among the changes that have taken place and the manner in which the health service is delivering services, greater accountability is achieved by measuring in the first instance. If one does not measure something one will not...

Accident and Emergency Services. (29 Apr 2008)

Mary Harney: We are now clinically supporting 10,000 older persons who require respite care by providing them with medical supports in their own home. Four years ago, no such home support with clinical back-up was available. This represents great progress. There are 28,000 older people in residential care, which is higher than the international average for people over the age of 65. In the past, many...

Accident and Emergency Services. (29 Apr 2008)

Mary Harney: The figure of 44% of people attending accident and emergency departments is not correct.

Accident and Emergency Services. (29 Apr 2008)

Mary Harney: Only one third of people who present at accident and emergency departments are admitted to hospitals. Deputy O'Sullivan is using the wrong statistic in the wrong context.

Accident and Emergency Services. (29 Apr 2008)

Mary Harney: They do not relate to those attending accident and emergency units.

Cancer Screening Programme. (29 Apr 2008)

Mary Harney: I confirm the planned roll-out of a national cervical screening programme. The absolute priority in the roll-out of this programme is to provide a quality-assured service for women availing of the service. This includes an acceptable turnaround time for cytology results. The national cancer screening service is in the process of procuring cytology providers as part of the planned roll-out...

Cancer Screening Programme. (29 Apr 2008)

Mary Harney: It is extraordinary that the Deputy who has been screaming at the Government to introduce the cervical screening programme, a Deputy who understands that we do not currently have the capacity in this State to provide quality-assured cytology services, is now screaming at me because we are proceeding to introduce that programme this year. I am also surprised that Deputy Reilly is raising the...

Cancer Screening Programme. (29 Apr 2008)

Mary Harney: We are providing the service. That is what is important.

Cancer Screening Programme. (29 Apr 2008)

Mary Harney: I have already told the Deputy what is required under the terms of the tender. The specified turnaround time must be met. The quality control standard in the United States is similar to the high standard set by the British society. That standard will be met. There is no point in having cytology without accuracy.

Cancer Screening Programme. (29 Apr 2008)

Mary Harney: The Deputy knows that much of the opportunistic screening that took place here was not reliable because the quality-assured facilities were not in place.

Health Service Staff. (29 Apr 2008)

Mary Harney: The number of general practitioners in active practice is 2,500. This equates to approximately 0.5 GPs per 1,000 of the population, a ratio that is low by comparison with other EU and OECD countries. I recognise there is a need to increase the number of GPs to take account of the projected growth in population, the aging of the population and the aging of the GP workforce. The Government...