Results 23,661-23,680 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Written Answers — Department of Health: Departmental Legal Costs (8 Dec 2015)

Leo Varadkar: The information requested regarding the total cost for the procurement of legal services from 2011 - 2015 is not immediately available and will be collated and forwarded to the Deputy at the earliest opportunity. Details of such expenditure for bodies under the aegis of the Department are operational matters for the bodies concerned and the Deputy should contact the relevant...

Other Questions: Hospital Staff Recruitment (3 Dec 2015)

Leo Varadkar: I do not have the detailed staff figures for University Hospital Galway. In the Saolta group there has been an increase of 689 staff this year, 38 of whom were assigned to emergency departments. Many emergency departments are old and out of date and there has been considerable investment in them in recent years. There is a new emergency department in Wexford. The one in Kilkenny has...

Other Questions: Hospital Staff Recruitment (3 Dec 2015)

Leo Varadkar: Specifically on the position in Galway, I do not have the official figures, but the most recent figures from the INMO showed that there were 480 patients on trolleys at some point during November in University Hospital Galway, down from 536 in the same month last year. The additional beds in Merlin Park University Hospital probably helped in that regard. More is being done. Up to 30 beds...

Other Questions: Hospital Staff Recruitment (3 Dec 2015)

Leo Varadkar: Yes, I referred to the new and extended emergency departments completed in the past few years. Beaumont Hospital is carrying out a feasibility study of the location, size and cost of a new emergency department. The report is expected shortly. All of these investments are expected to improve the experience of the thousands of people who attend emergency departments every day.

Seanad: Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2015: Second Stage (3 Dec 2015)

Leo Varadkar: I am pleased to speak to the House today on Second Stage of the Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2015. As Senators will be aware, the Bill concluded its passage through the Dáil yesterday unopposed. Health insurance in Ireland is based on a core principle of community rating and for many decades it has operated alongside our public health service. During this time it has grown and...

Seanad: Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2015: Second Stage (3 Dec 2015)

Leo Varadkar: I thank Senators for their contributions and welcome their broad support for the Bill. To pick up on some of the points mentioned, currently there are approximately 400 different plans available. There is no doubt it causes confusion for people and the matter is being examined at present. However, we have to take competition law into account. Competition law and principles allow people to...

Seanad: Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2015: Second Stage (3 Dec 2015)

Leo Varadkar: That is to check out one's level of coverage and make sure certain hospitals are covered, which emphasises my point even more.

Other Questions: Hospital Staff Recruitment (3 Dec 2015)

Leo Varadkar: In the past eight years a general moratorium on recruitment and promotion, coupled with an employment control framework, has contributed to a fall in employment across the public health sector and the wider public service. Arising from budget 2015, restrictions on the employment of additional staff were eased in 2015. In December 2014 I convened the emergency department task force to...

Other Questions: Hospital Waiting Lists (3 Dec 2015)

Leo Varadkar: The Government is working to ensure that long waiting times for scoliosis surgery are reduced. The focus is on additional resources and capacity so that more operations can be carried out every year. I have been assured by University Hospital Galway it is working to ensure that the necessary resources and arrangements are in place to address the needs of patients with scoliosis and to...

Other Questions: Hospital Waiting Lists (3 Dec 2015)

Leo Varadkar: We discussed this on an earlier question. I am not sure if the Deputy was here. As I said, the constraints in carrying out complex surgery depend on a number of things including theatre time being available, theatre nurses being available, an appropriately qualified consultant orthopaedic surgeon being available to carry out the operation and a number of other factors. What is being done...

Other Questions: Hospital Waiting Lists (3 Dec 2015)

Leo Varadkar: I welcome the fact that Deputy Joan Collins acknowledges the efforts and the progress being made in Crumlin. I will also take a particular interest in scoliosis surgery at University Hospital Galway. That interest will not be in an individual case but in all cases.

Other Questions: Hospital Waiting Lists (3 Dec 2015)

Leo Varadkar: It is not right that we as politicians should prioritise one individual over another. I acknowledge that the Deputy is not suggesting that and, as such, the interest I take will be in all cases not individual cases. I am advised from Galway that within the last three months, two consultant orthopaedic surgeons, comprising one replacement and one additional post, have been appointed at...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Industrial Disputes (3 Dec 2015)

Leo Varadkar: The HSE will seek to minimise the impact of any industrial action on patients in the seven emergency departments where strike action is proposed. Hospital management will agree contingency arrangements with staff to ensure that adequate resources are provided during the two-hour period of industrial action at each site on 15 December. The strike is avoidable and management and nursing union...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Industrial Disputes (3 Dec 2015)

Leo Varadkar: As the Deputy knows, the Supplementary Estimate of €665 million refers to this year. Built into that is the provision for the winter initiative to open additional beds, if we can find and pay the required staff, and to keep fair deal waiting times at between two and four weeks. Its purpose is also to ensure we can keep providing the additional 180,000 additional home care packages...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Industrial Disputes (3 Dec 2015)

Leo Varadkar: The questions the Deputy asked on the Supplementary Estimate are entirely reasonable but the question he put down did not ask about it at all. I did not bring the big binder of figures that I will have with me when we discuss it at a committee meeting next week. It is important to bear in mind that the Supplementary Estimate includes a number of different things. It includes some...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Industrial Disputes (3 Dec 2015)

Leo Varadkar: I do not follow the Deputy's question.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Industrial Disputes (3 Dec 2015)

Leo Varadkar: I cannot speak for it.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Accident and Emergency Department Waiting Times (3 Dec 2015)

Leo Varadkar: The Deputy will appreciate that I cannot comment on individual cases. I do not have all the information on them. I might never have all the details, for reasons of patient confidentiality and for other reasons. If the Deputy wants to make those details available to the chief executive officer of the hospital, I will make sure the matter is looked into appropriately. He is not the only...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Hospital Waiting Lists (3 Dec 2015)

Leo Varadkar: The Government is working to ensure long waiting times for scoliosis surgery are reduced. It is focussing on additional resources and capacity to carry out this surgery. Our Lady's Children's Hospital in Crumlin is the largest provider of scoliosis surgery for children and young people. Additional funding was allocated in 2015 for additional consultant posts, including two consultant...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Hospital Waiting Lists (3 Dec 2015)

Leo Varadkar: The number of operations done every year needs to be increased substantially.