Results 16,141-16,160 of 46,081 for speaker:Simon Harris

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Review of the Sláintecare Report (22 Nov 2017)

Simon Harris: I want to reassure people that this was brought in by a previous Government and a previous Minister. It is not a policy supported by my Government or my party. We will have the Donal de Buitléir impact study and I have outlined what I intend to do in the interim. On the issue of trauma, I cannot get into it too much because I have not yet brought the report to the Government. I do...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Review of the Sláintecare Report (22 Nov 2017)

Simon Harris: It will be a busy year. It is about how we better empower people with disabilities to make decisions about the allocation of funding that the State provides for them. I agree with Senator Dolan on this and Deputy Murphy O'Mahony is a strong advocate in this area. We must examine how we empower people. For far too long, the State has thought its relationship with the person with a...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Review of the Sláintecare Report (22 Nov 2017)

Simon Harris: I will take the questions in reverse order while they are fresh in my mind. On Deputy Durkan's comments, I think those of us in the political system may ask if there are people in the Civil Service who are committed to health reform. However, if we are to be honest, those in the Civil Service might also ask if those politicians are ever committed to health reform. I do not think Ireland...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Review of the Sláintecare Report (22 Nov 2017)

Simon Harris: I would not either, but a lot of people in this country hold up the NHS as marking the point to which we want to get. In that context, I make the point that there is a significant turnover of managers in the NHS. We are in a situation where we need to develop management within the health service and hospitals. I sometimes get into trouble for saying this, but the truth is that where there...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Review of the Sláintecare Report (22 Nov 2017)

Simon Harris: I will answer the speakers in reverse order beginning with Deputy Shortall's issues, many of which were similar to those raised by Deputy Collins relating to slippage and timefarmes. I want to be honest about this. I do not criticise anybody for being ambitious but some of the timeframes were somewhat unworkable, and I do not say that to be critical. We had a plan in May, it was debated in...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Review of the Sláintecare Report (22 Nov 2017)

Simon Harris: I missed the start of the Deputy's question.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Review of the Sláintecare Report (22 Nov 2017)

Simon Harris: Not all consultants are employed by the HSE. I should have made that point in the interests of clarity. Some of these consultants may be employed by voluntary hospitals. That is another impact of our system.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Review of the Sláintecare Report (22 Nov 2017)

Simon Harris: Yes, but they are not all employed by the HSE. That is my point. I take the point the Deputy makes. I do not, nor will I, accept as an excuse from anyone working in the health service at any level that asking the HSE to adhere to two separate legal requirements is something beyond its capabilities. The HSE is an implementer of law, not a maker of law. If the Oireachtas wants to change...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Review of the Sláintecare Report (22 Nov 2017)

Simon Harris: I wish to be clear: no one suggesting that the HSE should do the audit. What I am saying clearly as Minister is that I want my Department to be able to satisfy me in 2018 that people are adhering to the consultants' contract in full and that where they are not, appropriate steps have been taken. Senator Burke is right. We have the ability to carry out an audit function. The process I...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Review of the Sláintecare Report (22 Nov 2017)

Simon Harris: The Department has the power to audit, absolutely. However, the responsibility is with the employer, the HSE. The HSE should not shirk in that regard either.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Review of the Sláintecare Report (22 Nov 2017)

Simon Harris: That is correct. What does Deputy Kelleher think I am doing?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Review of the Sláintecare Report (22 Nov 2017)

Simon Harris: What I am saying is that we are using the powers that my Department has to hold the HSE to account on this matter. The HSE and the Department are engaging, and have been for some time, with a view to having a robust mechanism in place that can satisfy me. I can be told now what nurses turn up and what nurses do not turn up. I should have, but I do not necessarily have, those data available...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Review of the Sláintecare Report (22 Nov 2017)

Simon Harris: There is a responsibility on the clinical directors. There is a responsibility on the hospital group chief executives as well. I must be careful because I have just said that there will be formal investigations into potential breaches of the consultants' contract – I am using my words carefully because we all saw the programme. I want to allow due process.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Review of the Sláintecare Report (22 Nov 2017)

Simon Harris: Yes, but we have not been in court.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Review of the Sláintecare Report (22 Nov 2017)

Simon Harris: I have to be careful not to go much further than what I have said already in order not to jeopardise the position of the State. The delivery of contracts works both ways. The employer has an obligation and the contractor has an obligation as well. Contractors have decided to take legal action against the State. I am making the point that the State will robustly defend these actions and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Review of the Sláintecare Report (22 Nov 2017)

Simon Harris: I am sorry, I was not avoiding the Senator's question. I was merely dealing with the questions of Deputies Shortall and Joan Collins. I was not in position. The question was whether the Taoiseach knew. My understanding is that this happened when functions were delegated to the hospital groups and that the hospital group had responsibility. My Secretary General informs me that it would...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Review of the Sláintecare Report (22 Nov 2017)

Simon Harris: This is the world in which we live. I did not say that the current Taoiseach, the former Minister for Health, had or had not been informed, because I am not that person. What I have said is that it would not have been a decision made by the Minister of the day. It was an operational decision made by the HSE. That is all the information I have to hand. I have confirmed that information...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Review of the Sláintecare Report (22 Nov 2017)

Simon Harris: I imagine Senator Conway-Walsh will accept that the likely direction of travel with, and in advance of, Sláintecare is that we will see more functions devolved from national to regional level. I believe that is appropriate. We have hospital group chief executives and board chairpersons. As Deputy Shortall has pointed out, we have hospital and hospital group clinical directors. The...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Review of the Sláintecare Report (22 Nov 2017)

Simon Harris: Obviously, having looked at the programme last night, it is clear that there have been cases in which this was not carried out correctly. That is obvious to anyone who watched the programme. I want to formally investigate it. It is a jump to suggest that no hospital group chief executive, hospital manager or clinical director is managing this. We need to identify where it is not happening...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Review of the Sláintecare Report (22 Nov 2017)

Simon Harris: I will consider that in the context of the implementation plan, implementing Sláintecare and all of the steps we need to take. In regard to the National Treatment Purchase Fund, NTPF, it has those data and I have no difficulty with it sharing them with the Deputy or the committee. I do not honestly know but I will have the question asked. In regard to the reference to the problem...