Results 27,421-27,440 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Written Answers — Department of Health: Nursing Home Services (20 Jan 2015)

Leo Varadkar: As this is a service matter, I have asked the HSE to respond to the Deputy directly. If he has not received a reply from the HSE within 15 working days he should contact my Private Office and my officials will follow the matter up.

Written Answers — Department of Health: Ambulance Service Provision (20 Jan 2015)

Leo Varadkar: As this is a service matter, I have asked the HSE to respond to you directly. If you have not received a reply from the HSE within 15 working days please contact my Private Office and my officials will follow the matter up.

Written Answers — Department of Health: Ambulance Service Provision (20 Jan 2015)

Leo Varadkar: Your question has been referred to the Health Service Executive for direct reply as the delivery of the health care infrastructure is a service matter. There will always be more projects than can be funded by the Exchequer through capital expenditure. There is limited funding available for new projects over the next multi-annual period 2015-2019 given the level of commitments and the costs...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Cancer Screening Programmes (20 Jan 2015)

Leo Varadkar: Planning for the age extension of BreastCheck to 65 - 69 year olds is underway and screening of the extended cohort will commence in Quarter 4 of 2015. The additional eligible population is approximately 100,000. The age extension will be expanded nationwide on an incremental basis, starting with those aged 65/66, in order to manage the additional screening and follow up involved. It will...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Health Services (20 Jan 2015)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 484 and 485 together. A review of the genetics service at Our Lady's Children's Hospital, Crumlin, commissioned by the HSE was submitted in May last year. This report made a number of recommendations on both internal and national service issues, which will be addressed by the HSE in conjunction with Our Lady's Children's Hospital, Crumlin and the...

Written Answers — Department of Health: National Children's Hospital (20 Jan 2015)

Leo Varadkar: The new children's hospital will be co-located with St James's Hospital, and ultimately tri-located with a maternity hospital to be developed on campus. In addition to the main hospital, the project includes two satellite centres at the campuses of Tallaght and Connolly Hospitals. The paediatric clinical genetics service is included in the new children’s hospital, and children and,...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Regulation of Health and Social Care Professions (20 Jan 2015)

Leo Varadkar: Psychotherapists and counsellors are not currently regulated under the Health and Social Care Professionals Act 2005. However, the Act provides that the Minister for Health may, under section 4(2), designate a health and social care profession not already designated if he or she considers that it is in the public interest to do so and if specified criteria have been met. My predecessor,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Accident and Emergency Departments: Department of Health and Health Service Executive (15 Jan 2015)

Leo Varadkar: I have not provided the committee with a formal opening statement for a number of reasons. This matter was discussed in a Topical Issue debate in the Dáil yesterday and is also the subject of the Private Members' motion in the Dáil this week. At present, the Minister of State, Deputy Lynch, is covering for me for the second part of the Private Members' motion debate in the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Accident and Emergency Departments: Department of Health and Health Service Executive (15 Jan 2015)

Leo Varadkar: We are due to finish for a vote at a certain time, so I would like to reply to some of these points.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Accident and Emergency Departments: Department of Health and Health Service Executive (15 Jan 2015)

Leo Varadkar: I will let Mr. O'Brien speak about the more operational areas, but I will make a few responses. Deputy Kelleher suggested a few times that I was well capable of delivering a lecture. He is quite good at it himself, so congratulations on that. One of the difficulties is that health care in Ireland is too politicised. If there is a problem with a hospital in France, the people in the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Accident and Emergency Departments: Department of Health and Health Service Executive (15 Jan 2015)

Leo Varadkar: What the Vice Chairman says is only partly true. An alternative access point is the day hospitals. I previously worked in a day hospital which provided in-house services for the elderly. The Smithfield unit has a dedicated frail elderly service. There are proposals under the national clinical programmes to do something significant around streaming frail elderly services separate from the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Accident and Emergency Departments: Department of Health and Health Service Executive (15 Jan 2015)

Leo Varadkar: It is a good idea but it is a staff matter and I will ask Mr. O'Brien to comment on it further. The emergency department task force will bring a set of proposals to us before the end of the month. It is not an emergency task force, rather it is an emergency department task force. In terms of what is happening in the immediacy, issues such as community intervention teams, CITs, community...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Accident and Emergency Departments: Department of Health and Health Service Executive (15 Jan 2015)

Leo Varadkar: Which question do you want me to answer?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Accident and Emergency Departments: Department of Health and Health Service Executive (15 Jan 2015)

Leo Varadkar: I have shared my views on the issue of registration fees with the chairman of the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland. I am very conscious that the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland, just like CORU, the Medical Council or the education council, is the independent professional regulatory body for that profession and is accountable to the Oireachtas and not to me directly. The last...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Accident and Emergency Departments: Department of Health and Health Service Executive (15 Jan 2015)

Leo Varadkar: The Vice Chairman made a very good point and she is correct that almost all health issues are connected in some way. The emergency department is often just the place where the flaws and shortcomings show up. I accept her point. I did not mean any disrespect in what I said earlier and I apologise if that is how it came across. Hospitals do not need delegated sanction from the director...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Accident and Emergency Departments: Department of Health and Health Service Executive (15 Jan 2015)

Leo Varadkar: At my next meeting with the chairman of the COL, I will also raise that matter.

Written Answers — Department of Health: Universal Social Charge Application (15 Jan 2015)

Leo Varadkar: The Department of Health is undertaking a major costing exercise to estimate the cost of Universal Health Insurance (UHI) for individuals/households and the Exchequer, and is working closely with the ESRI and the Health Insurance Authority on this. The exercise will also take account of administrative costs associated with the model of UHI as set out in the White Paper. The Minister...

Written Answers — Department of Health: National Lottery Funding Applications (15 Jan 2015)

Leo Varadkar: Applications for National Lottery grants far exceed resources and as the funds available for 2014 have been disbursed it is not possible, unfortunately, to assist in this particular case. However, if funding for this project is required in 2015, the organisation may wish to apply for a grant from the 2015 National Lottery allocation. Details of which will be put on the Department's website...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Hospital Appointment Status (15 Jan 2015)

Leo Varadkar: The scheduling of appointments for patients is a matter for the hospital to which the patient has been referred. Should a patient's general practitioner consider that the patient's condition warrants an earlier appointment, he or she would be in the best position to take the matter up with the consultant and hospital involved. In relation to the particular query raised, as this is a service...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Hospital Waiting Lists (15 Jan 2015)

Leo Varadkar: The National Waiting List Management Policy, A standardised approach to managing scheduled care treatment for in-patient, day case and planned procedures, January 2014,has been developed to ensure that all administrative, managerial and clinical staff follow an agreed national minimum standard for the management and administration of waiting lists for scheduled care. This policy, which has...