Results 3,341-3,360 of 24,635 for speaker:Mary Harney

Written Answers — Health Service Staff: Health Service Staff (4 Mar 2010)

Mary Harney: Previous data from 2007 provided by the Health Service Executive to my Department indicated that 90.19% of staff were from Ireland, with a further 2.47% from the rest of the European Union (EU) and the European Economic Area (EEA) combined. Further data, including the number of staff of non-EU staff, i.e. excluding the European Economic Area, may be available from the HSE. However, due to...

Written Answers — Medical Cards: Medical Cards (4 Mar 2010)

Mary Harney: The contract between the HSE and General Practitioners for the General Medical Services (GMS) Scheme stipulates that fees are not paid to GPs by the HSE in respect of certain medical certificates which may be required, for example, "under the Social Welfare Acts or for the purposes of insurance or assurance policies or for the issue of driving licences". There are no proposals to alter this...

Written Answers — Health Service Staff: Health Service Staff (4 Mar 2010)

Mary Harney: I would like to draw the Deputy's attention to the Health Act 2004 as amended by Section 103 of the Health Act 2007 which provides for Protected Disclosures of Information and sets out the protection of persons disclosing information.

Written Answers — Medical Cards: Medical Cards (4 Mar 2010)

Mary Harney: As this is a service matter it has been referred to the Health Service Executive for direct reply to the Deputy. I wish to advise the Deputy that, due to an intensification of industrial action in the public service by members of IMPACT, the HSE may not be in a position to provide a response to this Parliamentary Question within the normal timeframe.

Written Answers — Medical Cards: Medical Cards (4 Mar 2010)

Mary Harney: As this is a service matter it has been referred to the Health Service Executive for direct reply to the Deputy. I wish to advise the Deputy that, due to an intensification of industrial action in the public service by members of IMPACT, the HSE may not be in a position to provide a response to this Parliamentary Question within the normal timeframe.

Written Answers — Medical Cards: Medical Cards (4 Mar 2010)

Mary Harney: As this is a service matter it has been referred to the Health Service Executive for direct reply to the Deputy. I wish to advise the Deputy that, due to an intensification of industrial action in the public service by members of IMPACT, the HSE may not be in a position to provide a response to this Parliamentary Question within the normal timeframe.

Public Sector Reform. (3 Mar 2010)

Mary Harney: At the request of the Department of Health and Children, a review of the Department was carried out last year under the organisational review programme, ORP. The report of this review was received approximately four weeks ago and the Department is now preparing an action plan which will set out its response to the ORP conclusions. The report and action plan will be published in due course...

Public Sector Reform. (3 Mar 2010)

Mary Harney: The number of staff in the Department has reduced by 25% since the Health Service Executive was established. The Department was never an operational Department. In the health board era it was never involved in operational issues. A myth has arisen in this regard. The Accounting Officer role has changed. The chief executive officer of the Health Service Executive who spends the money is...

Public Sector Reform. (3 Mar 2010)

Mary Harney: Traditionally, the Department over-concentrated on inputs. As is clear from the report, the role of the Department is focused on outcomes, results and measuring performance. The report draws attention to the need for the Department to have a different skill-set such as economic analysis and analytical skills in general. I share that view. The service plan has to be approved by the...

Hospital Accommodation. (3 Mar 2010)

Mary Harney: The most recent information on bed closures in the acute hospital system refers to the week ended 17 January 2010. At that time, 689 inpatient beds and 37 day beds were closed for reasons of cost-containment, infection control, refurbishment and seasonal closure of facilities. While public debate tends to focus on bed numbers, it is much more meaningful to measure the number of patients...

Hospital Accommodation. (3 Mar 2010)

Mary Harney: I wish to explain something to the Deputy because it makes a difference. Many procedures can be done on a day case basis that are currently done on an inpatient basis. I will outline some data. For example, 37% of hernia repairs happen on a day case basis. It varies from Tallaght where 84% of them happen on a day case basis to Mayo where only 16% happen on a day case basis. The length of...

Hospital Accommodation. (3 Mar 2010)

Mary Harney: The Deputy, if he is being fair, must acknowledge the substantial progress that has been made in the delivery of health services, particularly in regard to day case activity which has virtually doubled since 2000. In regard to the service plan, the main element of the change is that 33,000 fewer people will be admitted to hospital in the first place. Those people will either receive...

Hospital Accommodation. (3 Mar 2010)

Mary Harney: It has been confirmed by the bed utilisation study and so on.

Hospital Accommodation. (3 Mar 2010)

Mary Harney: I said that "many" of those admitted for less than 48 hours do not require hospitalisation.

Industrial Disputes. (3 Mar 2010)

Mary Harney: The Health Service Executive received notice on 22 February from the trade union IMPACT of its intention to intensify its members' industrial action with effect from Monday, 1 March. The HSE was informed that, in addition to their existing actions, IMPACT members would refuse to take on work in regard to any vacancy, not just those vacancies that have arisen since the general industrial...

Industrial Disputes. (3 Mar 2010)

Mary Harney: To clarify, I have not meet with any of the unions. The industrial relations activity that is under way is part of a broader campaign across the public sector the response to which is being led and managed by the Minister for Finance and the Taoiseach. To clarify another point, the Government did not pull out of talks with the unions. Unfortunately, we failed to reach agreement within...

Industrial Disputes. (3 Mar 2010)

Mary Harney: Yes, but I must be able to access the information in order to respond accurately to Members. Neither I nor my colleagues have all the information in our heads. In recent weeks, and in preparation for today in particular, we pulled out all the stops to obtain information. In the current unusual situation even very senior people are involved in the industrial action. In order to provide...

Interdepartmental Committees. (3 Mar 2010)

Mary Harney: There is increasing recognition that health outcomes are influenced by income, housing, educational attainment and other factors that fall outside the remit of the health sector. Within that sector, there is also a need to develop policies and services that address the particular needs of specific groups, such as Travellers, homeless adults, drug users and prisoners. My Department...

Interdepartmental Committees. (3 Mar 2010)

Mary Harney: At Cabinet level, it is co-ordinated by what is broadly called the social inclusion sub-committee. The officials group, which involves several Departments, works on the social inclusion agenda, including health. Regarding Travellers specifically, I recently attended a similar launch in my constituency. In recent years, we have funded a number of primary care workers for the Traveller...

Interdepartmental Committees. (3 Mar 2010)

Mary Harney: In the current circumstances, the answer to the last question is "No". The reality of the economic situation in which we find ourselves is that an additional 200,000 people have recently acquired medical cards. If memory serves me correctly, as I do not have the data in my brief, 1.48 million people are covered by full medical cards and 98,000 have doctor-only cards. These figures...