Results 35,541-35,560 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: We were looking for that information, but I am not sure that we have it available in the Department.

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

Simon Harris: They are all fair questions. We fund the HSE and ask the executive to set targets and then agree to them. The HSE has to transpose them and the resources provided into its community health organisations, CHOs. I will ask the HSE to send a note to the Deputy detailing exactly what the increases mean for each CHO and answering the public versus private question. The Deputy and I discussed...

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

Simon Harris: The Deputy might dispute it, but there is a budget line for it. There is funding available for postgraduate training. Whether it is enough is a matter for debate, but funding is available for HSE-employed nurses but not for practice nurses. At my recent briefing on the general practitioner, GP, contract, I made it clear to the HSE and to the Department that while we are debating and...

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

Simon Harris: We will get both for the Deputy.

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

Simon Harris: I thank the Deputy.

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

Simon Harris: I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. He also raised it with me on a number of previous occasions in the context of his constituency and region. We have made some progress in respect of it in the meantime. Orthodontic waiting lists are a cause of significant concern. As the Deputy pointed out, for a child or an adolescent at a certain time in his or her life, his or her inability to...

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

Simon Harris: General practice is one area of the health service that works very well. People in this country largely have access to their GPs at relatively short notice. Such ease of access has been lost in a number of other countries. While I am conscious of the changes, improvements and modernisation that are required - as are our GP organisations - we do not want to lose all that is good about...

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

Simon Harris: The Department and I set policy, not the HSE. It is not my policy or that of the Government to diminish the role of public community hospitals or public nursing homes. However, it has been the policy of this and successive Governments to ensure these facilities will be brought up to appropriate HIQA standards. With Deputy Margaret Murphy O'Mahony, I visited the community hospital in Bandon...

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

Simon Harris: That will not be a problem. The Deputy raised the broader issue of home help provision. She is probably aware that last year my Department commissioned the Health Research Board to carry out an evidence-based review of all the various international approaches taken to the regulation and financing of home care services. The Minister of State, Deputy Helen McEntee, will publish the outcome...

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

Simon Harris: I will get the information for the Deputy.

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

Simon Harris: That is a fair point. We can debate the pros and cons of the winter initiative. There has been significant progress on the issue of delayed discharges, the number of which has been reduced to its lowest level since they were first recorded. There is a direct correlation with the level of investment in providing additional home care packages and transitional care beds and with the...

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

Simon Harris: I had an excellent meeting with the Scottish Health Minister after the committee had met her. I know that the cross-party group on dementia which I think is meeting today and which is headed by Senator Colette Kelleher visited Scotland. There could be more learning and co-operation on a number of issues, including drug policy, about which we had a good conversation.

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

Simon Harris: The Chairman has correctly noted that we will see an increased investment in the National Ambulance Service in 2017, which is welcome. The first report I received when I became Minister for Health was produced by Lightfoot Solutions UK on the National Ambulance Service. In reading the report which was published on my Department's website I was struck by the huge need for extra ambulances...

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

Simon Harris: I thank the Deputies. Many points were raised in their comments. I will get clarification from the National Ambulance Service on Loughglynn but my note just tells me that it is a deployment point. I take Deputy Murphy's point in respect of the importance of the ambulance service and the great work that it carries out. This is an area in which we clearly have a lot more work to do. The...

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

Simon Harris: It should make our engagements more predictable. I will have to ask the HSE to give the Deputy a note on it because these are operational matters. We have taken note of them. I urge Deputy O'Reilly to come back to me if she does not get satisfactory information in reply. That includes the question of recruitment from abroad. I realise Deputy O'Reilly knows the history of the Dublin...

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

Simon Harris: It is an important issue. I want to recognise the extraordinary contribution that DFB provides to the delivery of medical services in our capital city and county. They will understand, as will Deputy O'Reilly, that I have to take on board the HIQA report and review. However, I want people to understand that my comment on not throwing the baby out with the bathwater gives people an...

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

Simon Harris: I know the Minister of State, Deputy McGrath, is an able and passionate advocate of people with disabilities and I am delighted to work with him. He was going to come back to Senator Dolan in that regard. I am keen to reiterate the point made by the Minister of State. When we consider the provision of disability services, we must consider them in their totality. I know that Pat Healy, the...

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

Simon Harris: I assure Deputy Murphy O'Mahony I will talk to the Minister of State, Deputy Finian McGrath, about the organisation in Cork she raised. Either he or I will come back to her. On the task force, it is important that when people hear the term "task force" they do not believe it will run on forever. When will people see progress on this? The task force was established on 20 September 2016....

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

Simon Harris: The task force is due to report in December of this year. It has a project initiation document. Its work plan has been developed and approved by the Minister of State, Deputy Finian McGrath. He has identified seven streams of work, some of which will be progressed in parallel. They are a review of national and international evidence of best practice; eligibility and resource allocation;...

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

Simon Harris: Perfect, yes.