Results 14,901-14,920 of 46,014 for speaker:Simon Harris

Other Questions: Respite Care Services Data (28 Sep 2017)

Simon Harris: It is not.

Other Questions: Respite Care Services Data (28 Sep 2017)

Simon Harris: Let me clarify.

Other Questions: Respite Care Services Data (28 Sep 2017)

Simon Harris: That is not what home sharing relates to. Home sharing relates to a situation whereby - this goes along with the decongregation agenda - one can safely and appropriately enable a number of people with disabilities to share a space within the community. If I did not explain that clearly, I am happy to do so now. The Deputy is correct, and there is no point in beating around the bush....

Other Questions: Hospital Waiting Lists (28 Sep 2017)

Simon Harris: Are we taking Deputy O'Callaghan's question too?

Other Questions: Hospital Waiting Lists (28 Sep 2017)

Simon Harris: I was just checking. I propose to take Questions Nos. 8 and 14 together. I thank Deputy MacSharry and Deputy O'Callaghan for their questions on waiting times at Sligo University Hospital and the Royal Victoria Eye and Ear Hospital. I acknowledge that waiting times are often unacceptably long and I am conscious of the burden this can place on patients and their families. Reducing...

Other Questions: Hospital Waiting Lists (28 Sep 2017)

Simon Harris: Yes, I am considering that. We need to be very careful in doing that because with certain specialties, outsourcing one outpatient procedure may adequately address the patient's needs but others might require the patient to go back into the public system for an inpatient or day-case procedure. In recent weeks I met representatives of the NTPF and asked them to look at what role, if any,...

Other Questions: Hospital Waiting Lists (28 Sep 2017)

Simon Harris: I would certainly be happy to talk to representatives of the Saolta hospital group and seek a greater understanding of the issues the Deputy wishes to have addressed regarding Sligo University Hospital. As the Deputy did, I wish to thank the people working in the hospital for the number of people they are treating and for the fact that it compares very favourably with another hospitals. I...

Other Questions: Hospital Waiting Lists (28 Sep 2017)

Simon Harris: The Deputy makes a fair point. We have the makings of a solution in respect of the Royal Victoria Eye and Ear Hospital that is twofold in nature. The first part relates to providing additional capacity in the hospital, which we did. I was in there in July to open its new cataract theatre. That will result in 1,000 additional cataract procedures being carried out this year, meaning there...

Other Questions: Hospital Waiting Lists (28 Sep 2017)

Simon Harris: I am sure the Deputy would not wish to misrepresent me because that is certainly not what I said. I said that as a result of investing in and opening the new theatre at the Royal Victoria Eye and Ear Hospital, an additional 1,150 cataract procedures will be performed there by the end of the year. This means that 1,150 people will have the gift of their sight restored, which is obviously a...

Other Questions: Hospital Waiting Lists (28 Sep 2017)

Simon Harris: I thank Deputy Aylward for raising this important matter. It is one the Deputy has consistently raised with me in this House and I know he has taken an active interest in it. The HSE is actively implementing the action plan it developed to ensure that no child will be waiting over four months by the end of the year for such surgery and is focussed on maximising all available capacity both...

Other Questions: Hospital Waiting Lists (28 Sep 2017)

Simon Harris: I accept the Deputy's very sincere interest. He is right that this is a very important issue. When I became Minister for Health, there was a brand new theatre at Crumlin hospital in which procedures could be performed but that was closed. It is open now. Nurses have been hired and a new consultant orthopaedic surgeon is working there. There were 312 children waiting for such scoliosis...

Other Questions: Hospital Waiting Lists (28 Sep 2017)

Simon Harris: I agree. The advocacy group has done Trojan work in highlighting this area of shame in the context of how the situation was allowed to develop. I would like to see the theatre open five days a week. I am assured by the Children's hospital group that this would require more consultants being recruited so, realistically, it will be 2018. Let us work to get there and, in the meantime, let us...

Other Questions: Hospital Waiting Lists (28 Sep 2017)

Simon Harris: If we can get more consultant surgeons. That is a priority but it is likely to be 2018.

Other Questions: Hospital Waiting Lists Data (28 Sep 2017)

Simon Harris: I thank Deputy Jack Chambers for his question. I fully acknowledge, as all Deputies would, the distress and inconvenience for patients and their families when elective procedures are cancelled. Maintaining scheduled care access is a key priority for hospitals, and balancing this with emergency demand is challenging. However, all efforts are made to limit cancellations, particularly for...

Other Questions: Hospital Waiting Lists Data (28 Sep 2017)

Simon Harris: I would genuinely ask the Deputy to provide me with information on this if he can because I would be more than happy to look at it. As already stated, I am informed that the NTPF can only report cancellations after the fact. Nor should patients be scheduled for treatment more than six weeks in advance. If there is an issue in that regard, I would be more than happy to look into it if the...

Other Questions: Hospital Waiting Lists Data (28 Sep 2017)

Simon Harris: Obviously, the NTPF is responsible for the auditing of waiting lists. I will be more than happy to pass on to it any information the Deputy might have. Very strict rules apply to the waiting list protocols. They govern how patients are added to lists and how they can be removed from them after they have undergone procedures, clinical decisions have been made or validations carried out....

Other Questions: Medicinal Products Availability (28 Sep 2017)

Simon Harris: I propose to take Questions Nos. 13 and 61 together. The HSE has notified my Department that it has decided, following an assessment under the process set out in the Health (Pricing and Supply of Medical Goods) Act 2013, to fund the nine treatments referred to by the Deputy in the public health system. Its decision to fund each treatment followed an examination of all relevant...

Other Questions: Medicinal Products Availability (28 Sep 2017)

Simon Harris: Yes.

Other Questions: Medicinal Products Availability (28 Sep 2017)

Simon Harris: I would welcome the opportunity to work with the Deputy and others on this matter. The Health (Pricing and Supply of Medical Goods) Act 2013 which was passed by the House for good reasons has resulted in these matters being passed back and forth between the HSE which has all of the statutory power and the Department of Health, to which the HSE must revert if it requires funding. They often...

Other Questions: Medicinal Products Availability (28 Sep 2017)

Simon Harris: I do not want such patients to be deprived of the drugs they need for bureaucratic reasons. I have conveyed this message to the HSE in the strongest possible terms. I am aware that contacts with the pharmaceutical companies are ongoing and hope resolutions can be reached speedily in those cases.