Results 3,421-3,440 of 21,128 for speaker:James Reilly

Other Questions: Maternity Services (25 Jun 2014)

James Reilly: Sadly, the Deputy is prejudging the situation. The national maternity review being conducted by my Department is nowhere near finalised. I have made it clear on the floor of the House that, while the report commissioned by the west-north west group may be used to help inform the national review, it has no status in and of itself. My Department is conducting the review to ensure safe and...

Other Questions: Maternity Services (25 Jun 2014)

James Reilly: -----and the staff's confidence in their security of tenure, but it is not necessary. There is no intention of closing Portiuncula Hospital or its maternity services.

Other Questions: Maternity Services (25 Jun 2014)

James Reilly: I am happy to assure the people of Ballinasloe and surrounding areas that they have in Portiuncula a good and safe maternity service with a bright future. Without prejudging the outcome of the review, we have no notion of downgrading or removing that service. I do not know where the patients would go.

Other Questions: Maternity Services (25 Jun 2014)

James Reilly: However, I must point out that, were I to tell the House that the report compiled by the west-north west group at a cost of €20,000 was to be utterly ignored, I would be castigated from a height for wasting public resources. Of course it will help to inform the national review, but the fact that some of its options - I remember there being four, not five - suggested closing...

Other Questions: Hospital Waiting Lists (25 Jun 2014)

James Reilly: I can certainly consider the Deputy's suggestion on exploring how we might develop a separate route for patients who feel they are deteriorating, without requiring them to resort to attending an accident and emergency department. As a doctor, I am aware that if people are left to wait for a prolonged period, elective surgery can turn into emergency surgery. That is not something anybody...

Other Questions: Hospital Waiting Lists (25 Jun 2014)

James Reilly: If I may make a general point, nobody should be in pain. Adequate pain relief mechanisms are available and a GP would be in a position to provide such relief. I accept, however, it is not ideal that people would take painkillers for prolonged periods when a procedure could resolve the problem in a more comprehensive fashion. As we all know, some painkillers have side effects which can be...

Other Questions: Ambulance Service Provision (25 Jun 2014)

James Reilly: The use of response cars by ambulance service officers is making a real difference in improving response times for patients. Between 1 January and 1 April this year, officer vehicles responded to more than 630 incidents, over 250 outside working hours. On average, the cars responded to seven incidents a day, almost three of which occurred outside working hours. The vehicles can be tracked...

Other Questions: Ambulance Service Provision (25 Jun 2014)

James Reilly: On the last point, it is, of course, my intention that the reports will be published. The HIQA review of the national ambulance service will be a very comprehensive analysis of how to make the best use of the resources available to us. Response time requirements have been in place since 2011 - no such criteria applied before then - and everybody will agree that the people providing the...

Other Questions: Hospital Waiting Lists (25 Jun 2014)

James Reilly: Management of all patients on waiting lists takes place in line with an agreed national policy on waiting list management that issued in 2013. This policy was developed to ensure all administrative, managerial and clinical staff would follow an agreed national minimum standard for the management and administration of waiting lists for scheduled care. The policy describes the process for...

Other Questions: Ambulance Service Provision (25 Jun 2014)

James Reilly: As the Deputy is aware, three reviews of the national ambulance service are currently under way. The national ambulance service has commissioned a national capacity review to determine the level and use of resourcing required for a safe and effective service. This independent review is being undertaken by the UK Association of Ambulance Chief Executives, an organisation with considerable...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: HSE Expenditure (25 Jun 2014)

James Reilly: We have made it very clear what is happening this year. We have a national service plan for the HSE, in regard to which patient safety is a clear priority. There are other things in it, including an expansion of the transplantation service. Last year was a very successful year one, with more transplants carried out than ever before. We have also put in place diabetic retinopathy screening...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Ministerial Appointments (25 Jun 2014)

James Reilly: In order to address concerns about persistent underperformance which had arisen in a number of hospitals in Galway-Roscommon, a CEO was appointed to the Galway-Roscommon Hospitals Group which was subsequently extended to become the West-North West Hospital Group in January 2012 and Mr. Daly was appointed chair of the non-executive board on 29 May 2012. My Department and the HSE first became...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Ministerial Appointments (25 Jun 2014)

James Reilly: The last question is astonishing in some respects. Is the Deputy suggesting anybody with business interests is not fit to be chair of a board? I do not accept this. It may be the Sinn Féin way and the Sinn Féin's Ireland of the future, but it certainly is not the Government's view that people involved in private enterprise, with a tremendous skills set in terms of organisational...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Ministerial Appointments (25 Jun 2014)

James Reilly: Bluster and nonsense are more particular to the Deputy and his style, but I have made it very clear what happened, that Mr. Daly stood down and that I regret the fact that he did not disclose his shareholding to the board. The Deputy asked me a range of specific questions which I am not in a position to answer, but if he writes to me for further details, I will have no issue with giving him...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Ministerial Appointments (25 Jun 2014)

James Reilly: More fiction from Sinn Féin.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: HSE Expenditure (25 Jun 2014)

James Reilly: There has been significant focus recently on the challenging resource constraints within which the HSE is operating. While the budgetary targets this year are particularly constrained, it is important to recognise that similar financial and resource constraints have applied in each of the past number of years as a direct consequence of the emergency financial situation the State has had to...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: HSE Expenditure (25 Jun 2014)

James Reilly: It will not take me two minutes to respond to Deputy Kelleher.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: HSE Expenditure (25 Jun 2014)

James Reilly: As they say, one can avoid the facts but they will not avoid you. Deputy Kelleher alludes to 2008. Would he tell us what the Supplementary Estimate was in 2009? Would he like to tell us what it was in 2010? In his party's last year in government, it was nearly €600 million in health. Let us deal with the facts. In 14 of the past 17 years there have been Supplementary Estimates...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Ambulance Service Provision (25 Jun 2014)

James Reilly: This Government is committed to improving our ambulance service and ambulance response times. The National Ambulance Service (NAS) is continuing the modernisation of its services, to ensure emergency pre-hospital care is delivered in an appropriate and timely manner. In that regard, additional funding of €3.6 million and 43 staff have been provided in the National Service Plan 2014....

Written Answers — Department of Health: Hospital Staff Recruitment (25 Jun 2014)

James Reilly: The next NCHD rotation occurs on 14th July. The HSE has advised that it is too early to be definitive on the level of vacancies that will arise, noting however that the number of posts that have not been filled is similar to previous years. However, vacancies are more concentrated in smaller hospitals. There are some hospitals to which it has historically been difficult to attract applicants,...