Results 19,661-19,680 of 46,095 for speaker:Simon Harris

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion (9 May 2018)

Simon Harris: At the moment, there is a legislative conflict. A tribunal is very public and no one really wants a tribunal. A commission of investigation is generally not public but it is quicker. I am happy to engage on whether there is a way to align the two.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion (9 May 2018)

Simon Harris: I get the impression that the Deputy is happy for us to come back on the other matters so I will get a note for the committee on e-health spending. We will ask the HSE to respond directly on the paediatric services in respect of electives and beds. In respect of the cervical screening issue, I will seek an urgent update from HIQA as to how soon the HTA for HPV for boys will be done. I have...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion (9 May 2018)

Simon Harris: You are correct. Mr. O'Brien alluded to that today. We need to know how that was known, who knew it and why they did not do something. I have asked the Secretary General, and in fairness, he acknowledged it this morning, to examine whether there is any evidence in the Department that the Department knew going back a number of years. I will ask him to comment on that. The Deputy asked an...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion (9 May 2018)

Simon Harris: All of the cases, even the cases of women who do not have a screening history, will now go to the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists for full clinical review. I will ask Mr. Breslin to talk about the Department and the work he will do.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion (9 May 2018)

Simon Harris: I will start with that question. It is a stretch in terms of the remit of this committee but I am happy to answer it. I love debating this issue. It is an important issue and it is vital that we get the facts and the information out. There is no need - when I am in the middle of dealing with a cervical cancer scandal and trying to reassure women - for people to turn up with an empty...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion (9 May 2018)

Simon Harris: -----whether people are for or against, I have no doubt that GPs will, as they and all in our health service have always done, abide by the law of the land. There will be conscientious objection. That is in the law and we will have plenty of time to engage with general practice and with the institute should the issue arise if there is a "Yes" vote.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion (9 May 2018)

Simon Harris: On the section 38 and section 39 organisations, the opening point made by Senator Dolan about the relationship between the State and the voluntary sector is very important. He will recall that I established the Dr. Catherine Day group, which is doing very good work. Dr. Day is very eminent in her understanding of governance structures and the like, and she is ably assisted by Professor Jane...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion (9 May 2018)

Simon Harris: Yes, before the summer.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion (9 May 2018)

Simon Harris: I will start and Mr. O'Sullivan might take questions that relate to the HSE. On the State Claims Agency issue, the point the Senator makes is exactly the sort of point we need to be teasing through. The Taoiseach has asked the Attorney General to do a body of work on this. It is a question of how we can get ourselves to a position whereby liability rests in the correct place legally and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion (9 May 2018)

Simon Harris: Sure.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion (9 May 2018)

Simon Harris: We have a GP, a Minister and a legal adviser.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion (9 May 2018)

Simon Harris: I appreciate the Chair saying that on the record of this committee, because I think it is really important. I wish to reassure him that from the State's perspective, the GP contract negotiations will be what I have described as Sláintecare-friendly, and aimed at recognising that we need GPs to work in what will be a radically different health service.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion (9 May 2018)

Simon Harris: On the topic of Portiuncula, from my reading of the report I would firstly sympathise with the families who have been tragically impacted by this, many of whom I have heard comment in the media, and all of whom I know were offered briefings in relation to this piece of work, to look into what went wrong in Portiuncula. I think it is important to say, however, for women who may be using our...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion (9 May 2018)

Simon Harris: Regarding the issue of medical negligence and so on, I will be very brief but I just wish to make the point that we have taken a number of steps as an Oireachtas and a Government in recent years, the Mediation Act being one such example, whereby there are now tools at the disposal of the State that do not involve bringing a woman, or indeed any other person, who has been through an issue of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion (9 May 2018)

Simon Harris: To be very clear, the reason I laughed was that I recalled the image last week, in the middle of a cervical cancer scandal, when we were trying to reassure women about their own health, a responsibility with which I, as Minister for Health, was charged, of a photo shoot outside Leinster House with a podium with my name on it asking where I was. I think it was very evident to pretty much...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion (9 May 2018)

Simon Harris: There has not been any-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion (9 May 2018)

Simon Harris: The other issue is that the Senator said I am heading up the Government campaign. To be very clear - and I do not mean to be pedantic - obviously, there is no Government campaign because that would be illegal. There is a proposition-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion (9 May 2018)

Simon Harris: There is no-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion (9 May 2018)

Simon Harris: This is the way the debate is going to go.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion (9 May 2018)

Simon Harris: It will not inform anybody if every time I say a few words-----