Results 25,201-25,220 of 46,036 for speaker:Simon Harris

Written Answers — Department of Health: Health and Social Care Professionals Regulation (28 Jun 2018)

Simon Harris: Regulations to designate the professions of counsellor and psychotherapist under the Health and Social Care Professionals Act 2005 and to establish the Counsellors and Psychotherapists Registration Board were approved by both houses of the Oireachtas on 22 March 2018. I am pleased to advise that I have since signed the regulations, which will come into force on 2 July 2018. The...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Primary Care Centres Expenditure (28 Jun 2018)

Simon Harris: As this question relates to service matters, I have arranged for the question to be referred to the Health Service Executive (HSE) for direct reply.

Written Answers — Department of Health: Hospital Appointments Status (28 Jun 2018)

Simon Harris: Under the Health Act 2004, the Health Service Executive (HSE) is required to manage and deliver, or arrange to be delivered on its behalf, health and personal social services. Section 6 of the HSE Governance Act 2013 bars the Minister for Health from directing the HSE to provide a treatment or a personal service to any individual or to confer eligibility on any individual. The National...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Hospital Appointments Status (28 Jun 2018)

Simon Harris: Under the Health Act 2004, the Health Service Executive (HSE) is required to manage and deliver, or arrange to be delivered on its behalf, health and personal social services. Section 6 of the HSE Governance Act 2013 bars the Minister for Health from directing the HSE to provide a treatment or a personal service to any individual or to confer eligibility on any individual. The National...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Hospital Appointments Status (28 Jun 2018)

Simon Harris: Under the Health Act 2004, the Health Service Executive (HSE) is required to manage and deliver, or arrange to be delivered on its behalf, health and personal social services. Section 6 of the HSE Governance Act 2013 bars the Minister for Health from directing the HSE to provide a treatment or a personal service to any individual or to confer eligibility on any individual. The National...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Medical Card Administration (28 Jun 2018)

Simon Harris: The Clinical Advisory Group (CAG) was established by the Director General of the Health Service Executive (HSE) in January 2015 to provide clinical oversight and guidance to the operation of a more compassionate and trusted medical card system. Its establishment followed the completion of the work of the Expert Panel on Medical Need for Medical Card Eligibility. The Report of the Expert...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Hospital Complaints Procedures (28 Jun 2018)

Simon Harris: As this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to you directly, as soon as possible.

Written Answers — Department of Health: National Treatment Purchase Fund (28 Jun 2018)

Simon Harris: The National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) is responsible for collecting and validating all waiting lists for public hospitals. The most recently published NTPF figures for the end of May confirm that just under 78,600 patients are waiting for a hospital inpatient or day case procedure. In Budget 2018, €50 million was provided to the NTPF to provide treatment for public patients...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Hospital Waiting Lists (28 Jun 2018)

Simon Harris: Improving waiting times for hospital procedures is a key commitment in the Programme for Government and €50 million was allocated to the NTPF in 2018 to provide treatment for patients. Waiting list data for the past three years show that the highest waiting lists have been across the specialties of orthopaedics, ophthalmology and otolaryngology (ENT). At the end of May this...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Health Services Reports (28 Jun 2018)

Simon Harris: The Oireachtas Committee on the Future of Healthcare was established in recognition of the scale of the challenges facing the health service and was tasked with devising cross-party agreement on a long-term vision for healthcare and the direction of health policy over a 10 year period. It’s report, Slaintecare, makes clear that a system-wide programme of reform, that has the full...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Hospital Waiting Lists Data (28 Jun 2018)

Simon Harris: Improving waiting times for hospital procedures is a key commitment in the Programme for Government and in 2018 €50 million was allocated to the NTPF to provide treatment for patients. The recently launched Inpatient/Day Case Action Plan outlines the combined impact of HSE and NTPF activity in 2018 to reduce the number of patients waiting for treatment to below 70,000 in 2018. This...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Hospitals Building Programme (28 Jun 2018)

Simon Harris: My Department has asked the Health Service Executive to respond to the Deputy directly in relation to the proposed new endoscopy unt at Naas General Hospital.

Written Answers — Department of Health: Hospital Waiting Lists Action Plans (28 Jun 2018)

Simon Harris: Improving waiting times for hospital procedures is a key commitment in the Programme for Government. In relation to your particular query, as this is a service matter, I have asked the HSE to respond to the Deputy directly.

Written Answers — Department of Health: Nursing Staff Data (28 Jun 2018)

Simon Harris: The main source of supply of nurses for the public health system is from those who graduate from the undergraduate degree programme for nursing.  Projections on the number of nurses due to become available are based upon previous student intake, those who complete nursing programmes and subsequently register with the NMBI. Of the cohort of 1,570 students who commenced this...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Medicinal Products Supply (28 Jun 2018)

Simon Harris: Each EU member state is responsible for the procurement of its own medicinal products. However, our membership of the single market offers an opportunity for international cooperation with other member countries to try and reduce the cost of new drugs. The challenge of securing affordable access to innovate medicines is not unique to Ireland and we have been engaging with other EU countries...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Health Services Staff Recruitment (28 Jun 2018)

Simon Harris: There are recruitment and retention difficulties in certain areas of the health service, including some consultant and nursing specialties. In these instances, the HSE utilises a range of measures, including agency, locum and other-short term arrangements to support service delivery. Following on from its first report, in which it identified recruitment and retention problems in specialist...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Primary Care Strategy (28 Jun 2018)

Simon Harris: As this question relates to service matters, I have arranged for the question to be referred to the Health Service Executive (HSE) for direct reply.

Written Answers — Department of Health: Health Services Staff (28 Jun 2018)

Simon Harris: Retaining and increasing the number of nursing, medical and consultant staff in the public health service is a key priority for me and my Department. It is a significant challenge given a backdrop of global shortages in health professionals and international competition for medical staff trained in Ireland. Where vacancies arise, the HSE utilises a range of measures,...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Hospital Appointments Status (28 Jun 2018)

Simon Harris: Under the Health Act 2004, the Health Service Executive (HSE) is required to manage and deliver, or arrange to be delivered on its behalf, health and personal social services. Section 6 of the HSE Governance Act 2013 bars the Minister for Health from directing the HSE to provide a treatment or a personal service to any individual or to confer eligibility on any individual. The National...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Hospital Consultant Contracts (28 Jun 2018)

Simon Harris: There are occasions when it may be appropriate utilise the services of a private investigator in the context of court proceedings and in this instance it arose in the context of defending the recent High Court cases taken by consultants who held Consultant Contract 2008 in pursuit of pay increases.  Consistent with the Government decision in February 2017 to robustly defend the High...