Results 31,241-31,260 of 46,095 for speaker:Simon Harris

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2017: Vote 38 - Department of Health (27 Sep 2017)

Simon Harris: That is right, and I am sure no-one wants to see HIQA regulating somebody's mother's sitting room as if it were a nursing home. There is a balance between appropriate regulation for the home setting, which is, presumably - I am a layperson where this is a concerned - significantly different to the degree of regulation provided in a hospital or nursing home setting. We will endeavour, in the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2017: Vote 38 - Department of Health (27 Sep 2017)

Simon Harris: That is still absolutely-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2017: Vote 38 - Department of Health (27 Sep 2017)

Simon Harris: He has worked extraordinarily hard and shown much leadership on it, as have many people. I know it has been a long time coming. The Taoiseach's commitment regarding the end of the year is one that we are all working towards. We will keep in touch about that. I do not want, for the reasons the Senator outlined, to personalise this in the context of any one decision made in the health...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2017: Vote 38 - Department of Health (27 Sep 2017)

Simon Harris: I do not disagree with the Senator. As he knows, while the Minister of State cannot be physically based in every Department, he is assigned to three. That is an initial reflection of the reality whereby there is a health need. However, that need often arises in areas in which it was not met earlier. It may not have been met as early as preschool, at an early intervention stage or it could...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2017: Vote 38 - Department of Health (27 Sep 2017)

Simon Harris: I thank the Chairman for his questions. I reiterate the point on the primary care budget, amounting to more than €1 billion per year, which is seeing a shortfall for this point in the year of €7.7 million. It is my expectation and that of the HSE that the full primary care budget will be expended this year. I reassure the committee in that respect. I very much take the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2017: Vote 38 - Department of Health (27 Sep 2017)

Simon Harris: It is important.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2017: Vote 38 - Department of Health (27 Sep 2017)

Simon Harris: Yes.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2017: Vote 38 - Department of Health (27 Sep 2017)

Simon Harris: I appreciate the Chairman's view and that of other GPs in this respect. It is a point legitimately raised by GP organisations. I do not want to negotiate publicly on discussions that are taking place as part of the broader conversation. I want GPs and the people to hear this broader message. I am talking about expanding services and making general practice more accessible to people....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2017: Vote 38 - Department of Health (27 Sep 2017)

Simon Harris: I am actively looking at it. I recently met a delegation on the issue. The Chairman is very passionate about it and he has brought it to my attention. I need to look at it in the context of the fact we do not fund postgraduate training for other elements of the health service, so there is an equity piece here. I am looking at it and I do hear feedback, not just from the Chairman, and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2017: Vote 38 - Department of Health (27 Sep 2017)

Simon Harris: I am not trying to take credit at all. I am putting it down to the hospitals.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2017: Vote 38 - Department of Health (27 Sep 2017)

Simon Harris: I was not going that far either.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2017: Vote 38 - Department of Health (27 Sep 2017)

Simon Harris: No.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2017: Vote 38 - Department of Health (27 Sep 2017)

Simon Harris: Yes.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2017: Vote 38 - Department of Health (27 Sep 2017)

Simon Harris: I do not disagree with Deputy O'Reilly on this issue. This is a really important point because we never have this conversation. When something goes well in some hospitals and it does not in others, we always look at it from the perspective of what extra supports the hospitals need, and many hospitals need extra supports. We have used the example of Limerick today in terms of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2017: Vote 38 - Department of Health (27 Sep 2017)

Simon Harris: Yes.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2017: Vote 38 - Department of Health (27 Sep 2017)

Simon Harris: It does work.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2017: Vote 38 - Department of Health (27 Sep 2017)

Simon Harris: I have no wish to damage Deputy O'Reilly's street cred, but I think we are making the same point.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2017: Vote 38 - Department of Health (27 Sep 2017)

Simon Harris: This is the point. We know the RCSI hospitals group can reduce waiting lists not by any one hospital or consultant owning the waiting list or the patients on the waiting list but by utilising the small level 2 and level 3 hospitals that work. These are the conversations I am having with the HSE. The Sláintecare report refers clearly to this. I was going to make this point to the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2017: Vote 38 - Department of Health (27 Sep 2017)

Simon Harris: I assure the Senator that it absolutely is being looked at and will be looked at. This is relevant not only at hospital level but at hospital group level as well. We have seen what happened when recruitment campaigns were run for managers. In some hospitals people did not apply. I want to look at international recruitment as well. We have already seen a successful international...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2017: Vote 38 - Department of Health (27 Sep 2017)

Simon Harris: I agree absolutely. Again, it is back to management needing to ensure we have a complement of rostered senior decision-makers doing the rounds, visiting the wards and discharging patients who are ready and who want to go home at the weekends. It does not take a rocket scientist to work out why our trolley numbers drop as we get towards the end of the week and into the weekend and then begin...