Results 18,261-18,280 of 24,635 for speaker:Mary Harney

Health Service Reform. (21 May 2009)

Mary Harney: The administrative costs of the Health Service Executive and the National Health Service, NHS, are approximately the same at 16% of the budget. As Deputy Reilly is aware, the NHS is outsourcing a significant amount of activity to the private sector. My point is that we should become less obsessed with who pays who to do what. We should be more concerned with patients and getting access for...

Health Service Staff. (21 May 2009)

Mary Harney: I propose to take Questions Nos. 6 and 74 together. The aim of the HSE's transformation programme is to have 530 primary care teams developed by 2011. A total of 110 teams are in place at the moment. The health professionals in these teams are holding clinical team meetings and delivering integrated comprehensive care to patients. The HSE aims to have a further 100 teams in place by the...

Health Service Staff. (21 May 2009)

Mary Harney: I am the first to admit that all is not well in the health service. That is the reason we are involved in a massive programme of transformation in terms of how we do things and the way people work. Primary care is about bringing together under a new working arrangement existing health professionals who very often treat the same service users. I recently visited Ballymun health centre, with...

Health Service Staff. (21 May 2009)

Mary Harney: The Deputy is wrong; the service is not developer-led. Primary care centres cannot go ahead without general practitioner involvement. That is a fact. The Deputy will be aware that many of the successful projects have been promoted by general practitioners. I note a facility involving practically all general practitioners in the Killarney area has just been refused planning permission,...

Health Service Staff. (21 May 2009)

Mary Harney: We have, in the past few years, employed an additional 12,000 nurses in the public health system. Deputies will be aware from the OECD report which examined regulation and public sector services in Ireland that we have the highest ratio in the entire OECD. In fact ours is double the ratio in France and is substantially higher than the ratio in Northern Ireland and the UK. My colleague, the...

Health Service Staff. (21 May 2009)

Mary Harney: We can have a debate about universal access but at a time when we are under pressure to provide services for those who need them most, that is quite a bit away. The promised eligibility and entitlement legislation is-----

Health Service Staff. (21 May 2009)

Mary Harney: I accept that. It is major legislation.

Health Service Staff. (21 May 2009)

Mary Harney: It is incredibly complex legislation in regard to who is entitled to what, an issue on which we need clarity as soon as possible.

Health Service Staff. (21 May 2009)

Mary Harney: I understand Deputy Ó Caoláin is to see the new service tomorrow at 11.30 a.m.

Health Service Staff. (21 May 2009)

Mary Harney: I hope the Deputy will go to see it.

Health Service Staff. (21 May 2009)

Mary Harney: I would like Deputy Reilly to get the independent unit in the Department of Finance to cost his "Fair Care" proposal. It proposes that nobody will pay any more money. Who will pay for this universal access?

Health Service Staff. (21 May 2009)

Mary Harney: The last time the Deputy was involved in universal access, he nearly broke the bank with what we had to pay the doctors.

Health Service Staff. (21 May 2009)

Mary Harney: As the Deputy knows, I am not involved in any negotiations nor would it be appropriate for me to be involved in negotiations.

Health Service Staff. (21 May 2009)

Mary Harney: That is entirely a matter for the procurement service within the HSE. No contract will be signed unless general practitioners are involved as the Deputy knows as well as I do.

Health Services. (21 May 2009)

Mary Harney: I propose to take Questions Nos. 8 and 94 together. The working group on arthritis and related conditions was established by the HSE in 2006. The group's report is expected to be completed shortly and will be then considered by the HSE senior management team. It is intended that the work of the group will inform the future planning and delivery of services for people suffering from...

Health Services. (21 May 2009)

Mary Harney: I agree there is a major deficit in rheumatology services. Among the reasons for that is that while we have a large number of doctors, there is an overemphasis on junior doctors with too few consultant posts. If we could get the ratio right, the amount we are spending would cover the cost of consultant appointments. As a result of the new consultants' contract, we are in the process of...

Health Services. (21 May 2009)

Mary Harney: I take responsibility for reports I commission but not for those commissioned by others. Under the Deputy's grand plan, responsibility will be handed over to insurance companies and taken out of ministerial control and, therefore, I will not take a lecture on that.

Health Services. (21 May 2009)

Mary Harney: The Deputy referred to the average working time of consultants. The majority of consultants in the public hospital system work considerably longer hours that he says. They work way beyond their contractual commitment, which is 37 hours. The new team approach with a clinical director will ensure hospitals are appropriately covered. Safe care cannot be delivered through the manner in which...

Health Services. (21 May 2009)

Mary Harney: A number will be filled this year. I cannot say whether that will happen in July, August, September or October. I am not in a position to give the Deputy that information.

Health Services. (21 May 2009)

Mary Harney: Yes.