Results 14,561-14,580 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Hospital Waiting Lists (28 May 2015)

Leo Varadkar: I do not believe people are deliberately creating waiting lists to pressurise people into paying out of pocket or to take up health insurance. Health insurance does not cover pre-existing conditions, so it would not cover it anyway in such cases. Quite frankly, waiting lists sometimes are badly managed. One has to drill down into them to really understand them. When I looked at some...

Other Questions: Hospital Waiting Lists (28 May 2015)

Leo Varadkar: Reducing long waiting times for hospital treatment is a key priority for the Government. To comply with the commitment which I announced in late January of a maximum permissible waiting time of 18 months by the end of June and 15 months by year end, the Health Service Executive, HSE, has put in place specific measures to address waiting lists more efficiently in collaboration with acute...

Other Questions: Hospital Waiting Lists (28 May 2015)

Leo Varadkar: It is important to understand the figures. The higher figure will always be high. It is anyone who is waiting for an outpatient appointment for any period. That includes people who are waiting two weeks or two days. As health services expand, more consultants are appointed and more clinics are established, that number will always be high. That is the way it works. What we do need to...

Other Questions: Hospital Waiting Lists (28 May 2015)

Leo Varadkar: It is a combination of factors. There are inappropriate referrals. Ask any speech and language therapist, any physiotherapist or any consultant and they will tell one about inappropriate referrals, namely people who should not have been sent to them in the first place. This happens, unfortunately, and needs to be better addressed. I hope the e-referral system over the next several years...

Other Questions: Patient Safety Agency Establishment (28 May 2015)

Leo Varadkar: I am strongly of the view that any new patient advocacy service should be set up independent of the HSE from the outset. For this reason I removed reference to the establishment of an interim patient advocacy agency from the service plan for 2015. My view has been supported by the recent recommendation made in the HIQA investigation report on services at Portlaoise hospital on the need...

Other Questions: Patient Safety Agency Establishment (28 May 2015)

Leo Varadkar: The Deputy makes a very valid point. Information that is available, provided it is collected accurately, should be made public in order that patients can see it and if there are discrepancies between hospitals and services, they can at least ask probing questions as to why. That is why a few months ago, for the first time, my Department published data by hospital for all sorts of issues,...

Other Questions: Patient Safety Agency Establishment (28 May 2015)

Leo Varadkar: Others do the damned lies.

Other Questions: Patient Safety Agency Establishment (28 May 2015)

Leo Varadkar: I agree in principle and if HIQA wants to start publishing hospital by hospital data for MRSA, it is free to do so and there will be no objection from me. However, it is important that the data are reliable. Unreliable data are no good to anybody and can be harmful. The role of the patient advocacy service will be to advocate for patients generally and individually. I do not intend it to...

Other Questions: Health Services Reports (28 May 2015)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy for the question. I am conscious of the personal tragedies of the families at the centre of these sad incidents and do not want to intrude on their privacy. I offer my sincerest sympathy to the families involved who have suffered such a sad loss. As Minister for Health, I do not have access to any patient's medical records, report or medical information which is...

Other Questions: Health Services Reports (28 May 2015)

Leo Varadkar: Each review team comprises a chairperson and three other members. I have the names but I am not sure whether it is appropriate to divulge the names of individuals who are participating in confidential reviews.

Other Questions: Health Services Reports (28 May 2015)

Leo Varadkar: I will have to get advice on whether it is appropriate to share the names.

Other Questions: Health Services Reports (28 May 2015)

Leo Varadkar: I will.

Other Questions: Health Services Reports (28 May 2015)

Leo Varadkar: If the Minister for Justice and Equality was asked to divulge the names of jury members currently hearing a trial, I do not think that would be appropriate.

Other Questions: Health Services Reports (28 May 2015)

Leo Varadkar: Without consulting on the matter I would prefer not to provide the names of individuals participating in a review. I hope the Deputy understands why. In regard to the fourth case, the review team has not yet been established. We have been in contact with the hospital to impress on it the importance of beginning that review expeditiously. I agree with the Deputy that individual case...

Other Questions: Health Services Reports (28 May 2015)

Leo Varadkar: I agree with the Deputy that it is important individual case reviews are carried out expeditiously, provided they are also done properly and thoroughly. Sometimes that can take time but the fact that they can continue for several months and, in some cases, more than a year is difficult for the patients and families concerned. They want to find out what happened and to be assured it will not...

Other Questions: Surgical Symphysiotomy Payment Scheme (28 May 2015)

Leo Varadkar: The surgical symphysiotomy payment scheme commenced on 10 November 2014. It was originally estimated that 350 women would apply to the scheme but 576 applications were accepted. Applications are being assessed by the former High Court justice, Maureen Harding Clark. The scheme has in the region of €34 million available and participants will receive awards at three levels, namely,...

Other Questions: Surgical Symphysiotomy Payment Scheme (28 May 2015)

Leo Varadkar: The UN committee is free to offer its opinion on any matter it considers relevant but in this country we are ruled by our laws and justice is administered by the courts. We are an independent sovereign State. It is up to the women individually to decide whether to apply for the scheme and to accept the award. The vast majority have accepted their awards. They do not have to prove...

Topical Issues: Ambulance Service Provision (28 May 2015)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputyfor raising this issue. I am very pleased to outline the current developments in pre-hospital services, both nationally and in Roscommon. The national ambulance service is working to ensure high-quality and timely emergency pre-hospital care, using all available resources as effectively and as efficiently as possible. As with any pre-hospital service, development and...

Topical Issues: Ambulance Service Provision (28 May 2015)

Leo Varadkar: I am not au faitwith the details of the staffing arrangements for that particular ambulance base and those matters are dealt with by the director of the national ambulance service and his team. Under the Haddington Road agreement, any public servant can be redeployed to a new site within 40 km of a previous base. Those rules apply to all public servants and it certainly would not be...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Patient Data (28 May 2015)

Leo Varadkar: The HSE Performance Report for February 2015 did not contain data for symptomatic breast cancer services for University Hospital Waterford due to data collection issues. However, the relevant data has since been collated and data from Waterford will be included in future reports. University Hospital Waterford has seen 100% of patients triaged as urgent with the two week target timeframe...