Results 14,861-14,880 of 46,014 for speaker:Simon Harris

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2017: Vote 38 - Department of Health (27 Sep 2017)

Simon Harris: It is important.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2017: Vote 38 - Department of Health (27 Sep 2017)

Simon Harris: Yes.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2017: Vote 38 - Department of Health (27 Sep 2017)

Simon Harris: I appreciate the Chairman's view and that of other GPs in this respect. It is a point legitimately raised by GP organisations. I do not want to negotiate publicly on discussions that are taking place as part of the broader conversation. I want GPs and the people to hear this broader message. I am talking about expanding services and making general practice more accessible to people....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2017: Vote 38 - Department of Health (27 Sep 2017)

Simon Harris: I am actively looking at it. I recently met a delegation on the issue. The Chairman is very passionate about it and he has brought it to my attention. I need to look at it in the context of the fact we do not fund postgraduate training for other elements of the health service, so there is an equity piece here. I am looking at it and I do hear feedback, not just from the Chairman, and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2017: Vote 38 - Department of Health (27 Sep 2017)

Simon Harris: I am not trying to take credit at all. I am putting it down to the hospitals.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2017: Vote 38 - Department of Health (27 Sep 2017)

Simon Harris: I was not going that far either.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2017: Vote 38 - Department of Health (27 Sep 2017)

Simon Harris: No.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2017: Vote 38 - Department of Health (27 Sep 2017)

Simon Harris: Yes.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2017: Vote 38 - Department of Health (27 Sep 2017)

Simon Harris: I do not disagree with Deputy O'Reilly on this issue. This is a really important point because we never have this conversation. When something goes well in some hospitals and it does not in others, we always look at it from the perspective of what extra supports the hospitals need, and many hospitals need extra supports. We have used the example of Limerick today in terms of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2017: Vote 38 - Department of Health (27 Sep 2017)

Simon Harris: Yes.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2017: Vote 38 - Department of Health (27 Sep 2017)

Simon Harris: It does work.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2017: Vote 38 - Department of Health (27 Sep 2017)

Simon Harris: I have no wish to damage Deputy O'Reilly's street cred, but I think we are making the same point.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2017: Vote 38 - Department of Health (27 Sep 2017)

Simon Harris: This is the point. We know the RCSI hospitals group can reduce waiting lists not by any one hospital or consultant owning the waiting list or the patients on the waiting list but by utilising the small level 2 and level 3 hospitals that work. These are the conversations I am having with the HSE. The Sláintecare report refers clearly to this. I was going to make this point to the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2017: Vote 38 - Department of Health (27 Sep 2017)

Simon Harris: I assure the Senator that it absolutely is being looked at and will be looked at. This is relevant not only at hospital level but at hospital group level as well. We have seen what happened when recruitment campaigns were run for managers. In some hospitals people did not apply. I want to look at international recruitment as well. We have already seen a successful international...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2017: Vote 38 - Department of Health (27 Sep 2017)

Simon Harris: I agree absolutely. Again, it is back to management needing to ensure we have a complement of rostered senior decision-makers doing the rounds, visiting the wards and discharging patients who are ready and who want to go home at the weekends. It does not take a rocket scientist to work out why our trolley numbers drop as we get towards the end of the week and into the weekend and then begin...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2017: Vote 38 - Department of Health (27 Sep 2017)

Simon Harris: There were other questions but I am afraid we could keep going. There is a great deal to be said and it is an important conversation. I addressed the issue of respite already when Senator Burke was out of the room. I addressed it in response to Senator Dolan. The Chairman raised it as well. There is clearly an issue. That is not in any way to criticise HIQA, because HIQA is an...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2017: Vote 38 - Department of Health (27 Sep 2017)

Simon Harris: It is a regular conversation we have. There is a requirement to outsource several of the day case procedures, especially because we are coming into a time of additional winter pressures in our hospitals. This is relevant for public hospitals that do not have emergency departments, the hospital in Cappagh being the obvious one. It could apply to some of the smaller model hospitals the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2017: Vote 38 - Department of Health (27 Sep 2017)

Simon Harris: As the Chairman stated, this is a recruitment challenge. The community intervention team activity is running ahead, which assists to some extent in that regard. However, we continue to face a challenge in recruiting public health nurses. On child and adolescent mental health services, CAMHS, the percentage of bed days used in CAMHS inpatient units is above the expected service plan level...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2017: Vote 38 - Department of Health (27 Sep 2017)

Simon Harris: I instinctively agree with the Chairman and I will revert to him directly on the specific capital project. As he indicated, the other issues are sub judice. I believe I answered most of Deputy Durkan's questions. However, the Deputy has frequently raised with me the need to collaborate on the issue of medicines procurement. If Ireland endeavours and other countries grapple with the issue...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2017: Vote 38 - Department of Health (27 Sep 2017)

Simon Harris: I will continue to make that point at meetings of European health Ministers. However, given that health is a national competence, instead of making that point, on which I agree with the Deputy, and waiting for progress, I decided that Ireland should show leadership and join other European countries of a similar view by moving ahead with the Valletta declaration. It is open to other member...