Results 15,701-15,720 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Written Answers — Department of Health: Ambulance Service Provision (29 Sep 2015)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 478 and 483 together. As these are service matters, I have asked the HSE to respond to you directly. If you have not received a reply from the HSE within 15 working days please contact my Private Office and my officials will follow the matter up.

Written Answers — Department of Health: Ambulance Service Provision (29 Sep 2015)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 479 and 481 together. As these are service matters, I have asked the HSE to respond to you directly. If you have not received a reply from the HSE within 15 working days please contact my Private Office and my officials will follow the matter up.

Written Answers — Department of Health: Ambulance Service Provision (29 Sep 2015)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 480 and 482 together. As these are service matters, I have asked the HSE to respond to you directly. If you have not received a reply from the HSE within 15 working days please contact my Private Office and my officials will follow the matter up.

Written Answers — Department of Health: Hospital Appointment Status (29 Sep 2015)

Leo Varadkar: Under the Health Act 2004, the Health Service Executive (HSE) is required to manage and deliver, or arrange to be delivered on its behalf, health and personal social services. Section 6 of the HSE Governance Act 2013 bars the Minister for Health from directing the HSE to provide a treatment or a personal service to any individual or to confer eligibility on any individual. The scheduling...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Hospitals Capital Programme (29 Sep 2015)

Leo Varadkar: I thank Senator Mooney for reporting this important issue. I am taking the debate on behalf of my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, who is at another event. The Government's policy is to support older people to live in dignity and independence in their own homes and communities for as long as possible. If it becomes necessary for an older person to move to a nursing...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Hospitals Capital Programme (29 Sep 2015)

Leo Varadkar: Only today did we know for sure what was available in our capital envelope for the next six years. The Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, with my oversight, will meet the HSE, go through it and devise a six-year capital plan for community nursing units and disability residential centres.It will certainly be in there, I just cannot tell the Senator today exactly when it will start and...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Cancer Screening Programmes (29 Sep 2015)

Leo Varadkar: I thank Senator White for raising this issue again in the Seanad.BreastCheck is now in its 16th year and currently offers a free mammogram every two years to women aged 50 to 64. Under BreastCheck, more than 1.3 million mammograms have been provided to more than 478,000 women, and more than 8,300 cancers have been detected. Last November, I announced the extension of BreastCheck to the 65...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Cancer Screening Programmes (29 Sep 2015)

Leo Varadkar: On the first question, I do not have the figure available but I will certainly ask BreastCheck to forward it to the Senator. On the second question, it is not possible for anyone to pay for BreastCheck or for any of the national screening services. They are not run that way. They are run in such a way that they are population based screening programmes and people cannot buy their way in....

Written Answers — Department of Health: Health Services Staff Recruitment (30 Sep 2015)

Leo Varadkar: I have asked the HSE to respond to the Deputy directly on the matter. If you have not received a reply from the HSE within 15 working days, please contact my Private Office and they will follow up the matter with them.

Written Answers — Department of Health: Hospital Appointment Status (30 Sep 2015)

Leo Varadkar: Under the Health Act 2004, the Health Service Executive (HSE) is required to manage and deliver, or arrange to be delivered on its behalf, health and personal social services. Section 6 of the HSE Governance Act 2013 bars the Minister for Health from directing the HSE to provide a treatment or a personal service to any individual or to confer eligibility on any individual. The National...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Hospital Procedures (30 Sep 2015)

Leo Varadkar: In relation to the particular query raised, as this is a service matter, I have asked the HSE to respond to you directly. If you have not received a reply from the HSE within 15 working days please contact my Private Office and my officials will follow the matter up.

Written Answers — Department of Health: Hospital Appointment Status (30 Sep 2015)

Leo Varadkar: Under the Health Act 2004, the Health Service Executive (HSE) is required to manage and deliver, or arrange to be delivered on its behalf, health and personal social services. Section 6 of the HSE Governance Act 2013 bars the Minister for Health from directing the HSE to provide a treatment or a personal service to any individual or to confer eligibility on any individual. The scheduling...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Health Insurance Data (30 Sep 2015)

Leo Varadkar: The total number of people with health insurance is now 2,118,624. These figures include those serving waiting periods and members of the Restricted Membership Undertakings (RMU's). The latest available data from the Health Insurance Authority shows that the numbers insured in each age category at end-June 2015 excluding RMU's and those serving waiting periods was as follows: Age Group End...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Ambulance Service Response Times (30 Sep 2015)

Leo Varadkar: As this is a service matter, I have asked the HSE to respond to you directly. If you have not received a reply from the HSE within 15 working days please contact my Private Office and my officials will follow the matter up.

Written Answers — Department of Health: Ambulance Service Provision (30 Sep 2015)

Leo Varadkar: The Deputy may wish to note that the National Ambulance Service (NAS) operates its fleet in line with the requirements of CEN 1789, the European Union standard for ambulances. The NAS has a fleet of over 520 vehicles which travel over twenty million km each year. Fleet management policies in place, minimise, as far as possible, the potential for vehicle failure. Daily vehicle inspections...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Tobacco Control Measures (30 Sep 2015)

Leo Varadkar: The Public Health (Standardised Packaging of Tobacco) Act, 2015 was enacted on the 10 March 2015. The Act currently provides for a number of elements to be prescribed by the Minister by way of regulations. While developing these regulations a number of other necessary and practical matters were identified as being required, some of which are in the interests of consumer information. These...

Seanad: Longer Healthy Living Bill 2015: Second Stage (30 Sep 2015)

Leo Varadkar: They are called "ambulance bypass protocols" and they happen all the time all over the world. It is not something-----

Seanad: Longer Healthy Living Bill 2015: Second Stage (30 Sep 2015)

Leo Varadkar: When I worked in emergency departments, we often went off call.

Seanad: Longer Healthy Living Bill 2015: Second Stage (30 Sep 2015)

Leo Varadkar: I am pleased to have the opportunity to participate in this discussion on the Longer Healthy Living Bill, 2015. I thank Senators Crown, Barrett and Power for bringing this matter forward and acknowledge their work in writing this Bill. The issues raised in the Bill are worthy of national debate. Society is changing and so too is the way we work, and that is not particular to the health...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Alcohol Sales Legislation (1 Oct 2015)

Leo Varadkar: The General Scheme of the Public Health (Alcohol) Bill was approved by Government on the 3 February 2015. The Scheme includes provisions for minimum unit pricing, health labelling on products that contain alcohol, restrictions on the advertising and marketing of alcohol and the regulation of sports sponsorship. As part of the pre-legislative scrutiny process, the measures were debated in...