Results 14,541-14,560 of 24,635 for speaker:Mary Harney

Written Answers — Medical Cards: Medical Cards (14 May 2008)

Mary Harney: In order to provide the Deputy with the estimates of cost requested, it was necessary for my Department to obtain detailed information from the Health Service Executive (HSE). Based on information received from the HSE, my Department estimates that: The cost of extending the medical card to all persons aged under eighteen who do not currently hold a medical card would be approximately €296...

Written Answers — Services for People with Disabilities: Services for People with Disabilities (14 May 2008)

Mary Harney: As part of the Multi-Annual Investment Programme 2006-2009 under the Disability Strategy, the Government provided the Health Service Executive with an additional €75m in both 2006 and 2007. This funding included moneys to provide new and enhanced services for people with disabilities, to implement Part 2 of the Disability Act 2005, which came into effect on June 1st 2007 for the under 5's...

Written Answers — Services for People with Disabilities: Services for People with Disabilities (14 May 2008)

Mary Harney: The availability of ABA in the West Wicklow area is a matter for my colleague, the Minister for Education and Science. The remainder of 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...

Re-examination of X-rays and CAT scans. (15 May 2008)

Mary Harney: Yesterday evening, the HSE issued letters to almost 4,600 patients in the north east advising them that chest X-rays and CAT scans from 2006 and 2007 were to be reviewed. Individual patients will be notified of their result as soon as their X-ray-CAT scan has been reviewed, namely, they will be informed whether they are clear or are to be referred for further assessment. The HSE has...

Re-examination of X-rays and CAT scans. (15 May 2008)

Mary Harney: A number of issues are raised. I reject the inference that this has to do with resources. Reviews of radiology and other reviews are commonplace in hospitals throughout the world. For many years in Ireland we did not review anything. We did not bring things to light, as Deputy O'Dowd knows from what happened in a maternity hospital. For 25 years the rate of caesarean hysterectomies was...

Re-examination of X-rays and CAT scans. (15 May 2008)

Mary Harney: It is important to state that there is a level of error in reading X-rays. If memory serves me right, this is in the region of 4% to 5% worldwide. The system is not perfect. The focus on health reform is to minimise the capacity for making errors by having a number of clinicians working together, having the most modern imagery and so on. What happened in this case was that four patients...

Re-examination of X-rays and CAT scans. (15 May 2008)

Mary Harney: As I understand it, a cardiologist noticed when he looked back at the diagnosis of one patient that the lung cancer diagnosis had not been made and he got in touch with HIQA about these issues. The HSE was informed in late 2007 and I became aware of this in March when I received a telephone call while I was overseas for St. Patrick's Day. The discussions between key medical experts centred...

Re-examination of X-rays and CAT scans. (15 May 2008)

Mary Harney: I totally reject the political charges the Deputy has made.

Re-examination of X-rays and CAT scans. (15 May 2008)

Mary Harney: The fact a hospital goes over budget does not mean it is under-funded.

Re-examination of X-rays and CAT scans. (15 May 2008)

Mary Harney: We cannot provide in five different institutions for the population of the north east the expertise required and that is what the reform agenda is about. First, facilities in Cavan and Louth will be strengthened.

Re-examination of X-rays and CAT scans. (15 May 2008)

Mary Harney: Half of all surgical patients and one third of medical patients in the Deputy's region attend Dublin hospitals. That is what they decide.

Re-examination of X-rays and CAT scans. (15 May 2008)

Mary Harney: The reason for that is the fragmentation of services.

Re-examination of X-rays and CAT scans. (15 May 2008)

Mary Harney: One cannot provide in five hospitals serving a population of less than 400,000 the range of expertise the Deputy thinks should be provided everywhere.

Re-examination of X-rays and CAT scans. (15 May 2008)

Mary Harney: The reform agenda in the north east is being overseen by a cardiac surgeon, Dr. Eilis McGovern. Resources are being invested in the region, including consultant staff. I recently had a good meeting with the medical board representing the hospitals in the north east and most of the clinicians on the ground are buying into the reform agenda and we must maintain the momentum behind that. This...

Re-examination of X-rays and CAT scans. (15 May 2008)

Mary Harney: The Portlaoise review was a permanent appointment. Is the Deputy implying errors are made by temporary staff and not by permanent staff?

Re-examination of X-rays and CAT scans. (15 May 2008)

Mary Harney: That is not a fact and I do not accept that. The case in Portlaoise was a permanent appointment.

Re-examination of X-rays and CAT scans. (15 May 2008)

Mary Harney: We receive letters almost every day from people in the health service telling us everything is unsafe and we do not have enough nurses and so on. According to the OECD report, Ireland has the highest ratio of nurses in its health care system compared with any system in the world and, for example, twice as many as in France. I will not accept a failure to invest in resources leads to the...

Re-examination of X-rays and CAT scans. (15 May 2008)

Mary Harney: Patient safety is paramount. The commission is due to report in June and, on foot of its recommendations, presumably I will come forward with legislative proposals.

Re-examination of X-rays and CAT scans. (15 May 2008)

Mary Harney: If trauma cases are taken to the accident and emergency departments of hospitals that cannot deal with them appropriately because they do not have the expertise, the potential for recovery by the patient is diminished by up to 25%, according to international evidence. If one is in a hospital that does not have the appropriate expertise for a condition——

Re-examination of X-rays and CAT scans. (15 May 2008)

Mary Harney: One does not need to be a genius. The OECD supports our restructuring plan for the north east.