Results 17,541-17,560 of 46,081 for speaker:Simon Harris

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: National Maternity Hospital (8 Feb 2018)

Simon Harris: I expect it will be.

Other Questions: Industrial Disputes (8 Feb 2018)

Simon Harris: I propose to take Questions Nos. 6 and 9 together. I thank Deputies Barry and Broughan for raising this important matter. Under section 39 of the Health Act 2004, the HSE provides financial assistance to organisations by means of a grant. Many of those organisations provide very useful and valuable services that our citizens appreciate. Section 39 legally underpins the provision of...

Other Questions: Industrial Disputes (8 Feb 2018)

Simon Harris: I am not sure what Deputy Barry's comment about the badge relates to. I am very proud that women have had the vote for 100 years and I hope we will do an awful lot more to advance women's rights in this country in the coming months. There is an urgency in terms of resolving this but, and I mean this respectfully, with the position I hold I do not have the luxury of being able to say some of...

Other Questions: Industrial Disputes (8 Feb 2018)

Simon Harris: There is an alternative to industrial action, namely, talking and engaging, which is generally the way we settle industrial disputes. We have dealt with a number of such disputes in the health sector since my appointment as Minister. I do not need to wear a badge to prove my record of willingness to engage and work through issues. Deputy Broughan is entirely correct that a number of...

Other Questions: Hospital Waiting Lists Action Plans (8 Feb 2018)

Simon Harris: I thank Deputies Billy Kelleher and Niall Collins for raising the important issue of the need to reduce waiting times for appointments to see neurologists at University Hospital Limerick. Reducing waiting times is one of the Government's key priorities. I am advised by the HSE that outpatient waiting lists, including neurology lists, are managed centrally at University Limerick hospitals...

Other Questions: Hospital Waiting Lists Action Plans (8 Feb 2018)

Simon Harris: I largely agree with the Deputy on this matter. The HSE launched a model of care for neurology in 2016 and is moving towards the implementation of this model. The national clinical programme for neurology model of care document recommends an increase in the number of consultant neurologists and nurse specialists, including clinical nurse specialists, and other health care professionals....

Other Questions: Hospital Waiting Lists Action Plans (8 Feb 2018)

Simon Harris: The Deputy raises a valid point. Capital projects will increase capacity in terms of the number of beds and dementia facilities. An issue also arises regarding the number of people on the outpatients list, particularly those with dementia, who could be treated in the community. This issue applies to the outpatients list in general. When so many people on such a large list miss...

Other Questions: Freedom of Information (8 Feb 2018)

Simon Harris: I thank the Deputy for this question, which has caught my attention because we are very clear on what people should do in this regard. Beaumont Hospital is a prescribed body, as the Deputy knows, in its own right for the purposes of freedom of information. Statutory responsibility for the hospital's compliance with the provisions and requirements of the Freedom of Information Act 2014 rests...

Other Questions: Freedom of Information (8 Feb 2018)

Simon Harris: I thank Deputy Kelly. There is nothing the Deputy has said that I disagree with in terms of the law of the land, which is very clear and there for everyone to see. I am informed that the deadline for the publication of this scheme was 14 April 2016 so clearly anybody who does not publish is not in compliance with the Act. The Office of the Information Commissioner is the body this can be...

Other Questions: Freedom of Information (8 Feb 2018)

Simon Harris: I have outlined the action I will take. In terms of compliance with the law, Beaumont Hospital is a prescribed body in its own right. The Office of the Information Commissioner oversees the implementation of the Act. It is disappointing to hear this because Beaumont is a hospital I very often reference in terms of its very positive progress on the number of patients on trolleys and waiting...

Other Questions: Freedom of Information (8 Feb 2018)

Simon Harris: -----as does Deputy Kelly. I do not know the reason for this but now the Deputy has brought it to my attention, I will correspond with the hospital and try to establish the facts and revert to the Deputy.

Other Questions: General Practitioner Services Provision (8 Feb 2018)

Simon Harris: I am delighted to be delivering this service which is badly needed for people in north Wicklow. He is right that I would have liked to have seen it delivered earlier, as I know he would have also. We are one of the last parts of the country without an out of hours general practitioner, GP, service, which is very important for looking after citizens in north Wicklow and to ease pressure on...

Other Questions: General Practitioner Services Provision (8 Feb 2018)

Simon Harris: I know very well how to communicate with the people of my constituency.

Other Questions: General Practitioner Services Provision (8 Feb 2018)

Simon Harris: This issue is one that I will deliver on. The Government will deliver on it and make a better health service in north Wicklow. Those are facts. If the Deputy wants to know where the money is, some €25 million is ring-fenced in a development fund for primary care in 2018. The funding for the delivery of a north Wicklow and south Dublin out of hours GP service will come from that...

Other Questions: General Practitioner Services Provision (8 Feb 2018)

Simon Harris: No discussions have taken place because the HSE does not go into a room with a bunch of people and decide to award a public contract. Public procurement will have to be advertised on the eTenders website for anybody who wishes to provide the service to be able to apply. I think the Deputy and I would agree that it is appropriate to ask the HSE to brief the local GPs about that service....

Other Questions: Hospital Waiting Lists (8 Feb 2018)

Simon Harris: I thank the Deputy for the clarity about scoliosis. I presumed that was what the question was about and I thank her for raising this issue. The inpatient and day case waiting list action plan 2017, developed by the HSE in conjunction with the National Treatment Purchase Fund, NTPF, focused on reducing the number of patients who will be waiting the longest by the end of October 2017. As a...

Other Questions: Hospital Waiting Lists (8 Feb 2018)

Simon Harris: The Children's Hospital Group will shortly publish, with the scoliosis co-design team, how the extra resources provided to it for 2018 will be expended. It will be used with a view to opening the theatre five days a week. They need to recruit for that. I do not want to mislead the Dáil and need to check whether that recruitment has started but I know the intention is to open that...

Other Questions: Home Care Packages Administration (8 Feb 2018)

Simon Harris: I thank Deputy Smith for raising this matter. The Government is committed to promoting care in the community so that people can continue to live with confidence, security and dignity in their own homes for as long as possible. To support this, we plan to establish a new statutory scheme for the financing and regulation of home care services. I know the Deputy supports that move and the...

Questions on Promised Legislation (8 Feb 2018)

Simon Harris: I thank Deputy Collins for raising this issue. I am sure the Labour Court ruling will come as a great relief to the people of Bandon and I expect it will see respite services recommence in Bandon Community Hospital, a hospital I have had the pleasure of visiting and a very special place.

Questions on Promised Legislation (8 Feb 2018)

Simon Harris: I thank Deputy Scanlon for raising the important matter of Lyme disease. I have asked the Department to carry out work on looking at how Ireland deals with it compared with other countries. I expect to receive it any day now and I am happy to revert to the Deputy directly.