Results 35,521-35,540 of 46,197 for speaker:Simon Harris

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2017
Vote 38 - Health (Revised) (2 Mar 2017)

Simon Harris: This is an area that is extraordinarily important and one in which significant progress has been made over the past ten years or so from a very low base in this country in terms of access to palliative care and in terms of the provision of hospice services in general. If one looks at a map of Ireland now, as I did recently with the palliative care people in the HSE, there is significant...

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2017
Vote 38 - Health (Revised) (2 Mar 2017)

Simon Harris: The Vote that I am here to account for today does allow for increased investment in the provision of palliative care in 2017 to address the deficits the Chairman has highlighted. This is an area in which we are coming from a historically low base. I am not suggesting in any way that enough is done, but I do genuinely believe in the increased investment this year. When we look behind the...

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2017
Vote 38 - Health (Revised) (2 Mar 2017)

Simon Harris: I will start with the nursing home matter that Deputy Kelleher raises. The Deputy is correct. On the issue of the 'flu this winter, for example, once the HSE started engaging proactively with the nursing homes when we put the additional measures in place in January, we saw that there is a willingness on behalf of nursing homes and their representative bodies to work with the health service...

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2017
Vote 38 - Health (Revised) (2 Mar 2017)

Simon Harris: Donegal can feel quite isolated geographically at times. It is such a large, sprawling county that to have an outreach nurse will make a big difference. I also had an excellent conversation with Deputy Louise O'Reilly's colleague and my counterpart, Ms Michelle O'Neill, MLA, the Minister for Health in Northern Ireland, about what we can do on a North-South basis in terms of paediatric...

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2017
Vote 38 - Health (Revised) (2 Mar 2017)

Simon Harris: I know Deputy Durkan is a traditionalist in regard to looking back at these figures. I mean that in a positive sense. While this is the way the document is laid out, as I said at the start, it is sometimes not terribly reflective of the way the programmes are delivered and that is the bridge we need to try and cross. I expect all four regions, without fear or favour, to come in on budget...

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2017
Vote 38 - Health (Revised) (2 Mar 2017)

Simon Harris: This year it is no longer acceptable to say that the HSE is not adequately funded. I say that because the Director General of the HSE, when he launched the service plan with me, said that the service plan was adequately funded for the delivery of the targets within it. There is recognition from the HSE that the Houses of the Oireachtas have provided adequate funding to deliver on the...

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2017
Vote 38 - Health (Revised) (2 Mar 2017)

Simon Harris: I thank Deputy Margaret Murphy O'Mahony for her support for the legislation to address the provision of a medical card for those in receipt of a domiciliary care allowance. This is an issue that unifies the House. The Bill is welcome and we will get it through both Houses as quickly as possible. The Deputy is correct to highlight the review. It is very important for the almost 10,000...

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2017
Vote 38 - Health (Revised) (2 Mar 2017)

Simon Harris: I do not doubt the Deputy. As the Deputy also knows, the primary care reimbursement service, PCRS, of the HSE has been showing a surplus because people were granted a card during times of unemployment but as they go back to work, the card is being returned when it comes up for review. While the Deputy is correct that there was an allocation of €10 million in the budget for this...

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2017
Vote 38 - Health (Revised) (2 Mar 2017)

Simon Harris: I do not have the up-to-date figure, but the PCRS had a surplus of about €30 million in 2016. It is a moving figure, but the most recent figures available to me are in that region. Deputy O'Reilly is correct that the people on trolleys are people who have been admitted by a clinician. It is also correct that people turning up in hospital - this is not blaming people because they...

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2017
Vote 38 - Health (Revised) (2 Mar 2017)

Simon Harris: That is true. In 2016 there was a target of 95% of medical cards properly completed - I will deal with that point in a moment - and being processed and turned around within 15 days. The actual out-turn was 89.6%, so it fell short of the target. We have set a target of 96% for 2017. The point that Deputy O'Reilly makes is valid. We all see it in our work as Deputies, where people feel...

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2017
Vote 38 - Health (Revised) (2 Mar 2017)

Simon Harris: There are a couple of points to note. Let me be clear and say that there is no financial need or incentive to be carrying out spot checks now. In terms of the surplus that PCRS actually found itself with at the end of 2016, unlike in previous years when previous Ministers for Health found themselves in very difficult situations regarding medical cards, that financial necessity is not there....

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2017
Vote 38 - Health (Revised) (2 Mar 2017)

Simon Harris: I think the point that Deputy Durkan makes is very fair. It is important to those people working in PCRS that we provide, as legislators, the legal framework to do some of those things, if that is the view of the House. As I say, once we move on from the DCA legislation I would be very eager to work with colleagues on further legislative change where required.

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2017
Vote 38 - Health (Revised) (2 Mar 2017)

Simon Harris: This is a very important part of Rebuilding Ireland, and I want to acknowledge the Chairman's excellent work in this regard. The premise is that people who are homeless have a need for a house and often have a need for other wrap-around services. The Chairman espoused the housing first principle in the programme for Government talks. Until relatively recently a view would have been taken...

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2017
Vote 38 - Health (Revised) (2 Mar 2017)

Simon Harris: No better man.

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2017
Vote 38 - Health (Revised) (2 Mar 2017)

Simon Harris: I will get Deputy O'Reilly a detailed note on the breakdown and the impact. It is an important point. I have some detail here that I am happy to share. Much of the additional funding in 2016 was provided to service providers to improve their own services and meet their own unmet need. I will get the Deputy more detail. There are a couple of important points to make on Deputy Durkan's...

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2017
Vote 38 - Health (Revised) (2 Mar 2017)

Simon Harris: I will get the Deputy a detailed note. The note I have tells me that funding of €1.46 million has been allocated for the unit which will provide targeted screening and primary care services. It will visit hostels, prisons, direct care and refugee reception centres. I will forward the specific information requested by the Deputy.

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2017
Vote 38 - Health (Revised) (2 Mar 2017)

Simon Harris: I will get the Deputy more details on the unit.

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2017
Vote 38 - Health (Revised) (2 Mar 2017)

Simon Harris: They are making a very important impact. Without pre-judging the outcome of the negotiations on the GP contract, an obvious point for discussion is the determination of what constitutes an out-of-hours service and a normal operating hours service. We can see clearly that there is a demand for the former. Given people's lifestyles, in terms of work and so forth, we need to determine what is...

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2017
Vote 38 - Health (Revised) (2 Mar 2017)

Simon Harris: One interesting statistic is that 90% of the population now have access to out-of-hours services in 14 centres nationally. There are over 2,000 GPs providing services in out-of-hours co-operatives. There was an 11% increase in the total number of contacts with GP out-of-hours services in 2016 in comparison with 2015.

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2017
Vote 38 - Health (Revised) (2 Mar 2017)

Simon Harris: I certainly did not mean to cast any aspersion on the Chairman.