Results 35,821-35,840 of 46,197 for speaker:Simon Harris

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion (22 Feb 2017)

Simon Harris: All these people are terribly grown up. It is not my job to adjudicate on different people's motives, memberships or-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion (22 Feb 2017)

Simon Harris: No. The Department of Health, in my view, in a time of great industrial relations uncertainty, when everybody is trying to bring industrial peace, must be respectful of a signed agreement with the IMO regarding negotiations on the GP contract. However, we must also work out a mechanism whereby we make sure all GPs have a voice in the process. I would argue that if one considers my comments...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion (22 Feb 2017)

Simon Harris: I agree with the Deputy and bow to her professional knowledge in this regard. I will ask the Minister of State, Deputy Corcoran Kennedy, to liaise with her directly on the matter. I am sure Deputy Margaret Murphy O'Mahony is a WhatsApp fan. I thank her for her question. I thought I had walked into the wrong meeting when she was discussing WhatsApp, leadership contests and so on. While...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion (22 Feb 2017)

Simon Harris: We can look at the work in the Department and report back to the Deputy.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion (22 Feb 2017)

Simon Harris: HSE.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion (22 Feb 2017)

Simon Harris: That is a different drug.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion (22 Feb 2017)

Simon Harris: Senator O'Donnell is constantly and understandably on my case about the emergency department in Limerick because it is a very important issue in Limerick. I visited the current emergency department with the Senator and it is wholly unfit for purpose. It would be a cause of great frustration to see a brand-new ED sitting idle while people worked in extraordinarily difficult environments....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion (22 Feb 2017)

Simon Harris: I am working towards ensuring that we can open the ED when it is fully ready to be opened. Senators Swanick and O'Donnell and many other colleagues brought up the issue of Orkambi today. The 2013 Act is very clear that the HSE leadership team has to make a decision to reimburse or not and then there is a middle one where we reimburse but we have no money. That is a matter on which the HSE...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion (22 Feb 2017)

Simon Harris: That is if a recommendation is necessary. I do not want to pre-empt the decision of the HSE, but I hope to be able to give cystic fibrosis patients in this country a definitive answer on this situation in the next few weeks. I will certainly look at the suggestion regarding Macedonia. We need all the suggestions we can get on this and if there is good practice, we will look at it. I...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion (22 Feb 2017)

Simon Harris: I am happy to meet it as well. With regard to A Vision for Change, my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Helen McEntee, is taking care of that. A successor document will be developed which will complete the process of modernising mental health services and effectively promoting mental health. It is envisaged that this successor policy will include detailed implementation arrangements...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion (22 Feb 2017)

Simon Harris: The framework document commits the Department of Health, and therefore the HSE, to engaging on GP contracts with the IMO. Long before my arrival, the Department of Health had a long-established history of negotiating with the trade union. Senator Swanick referred to the peace process in Northern Ireland. I hope we do not need a peace process for GP organisations here. Some GPs have...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion (22 Feb 2017)

Simon Harris: I wish to make another point. Senator Dolan reminded me of the point when he referred to the fair deal scheme. One of the most important things we will have to do this year relates to the area of the Minister of State, Deputy McEntee, who is working on this with the Minister of State, Deputy McGrath. They will be trying to move to the statutory scheme for home care and home help. Senator...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion (22 Feb 2017)

Simon Harris: I think it is a significant option. If we are telling people under the age of 65 years – it is happening in the country today – especially those with disabilities, that the only statutory option is to go into a nursing home, then that is not acceptable. We should try to create another pathway. It would not be an exact replica of the fair deal scheme but it could be a similar...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Medical Card Eligibility (22 Feb 2017)

Simon Harris: This is a Programme for Government commitment which received funding in Budget 2017. I received permission from Government to draft the relevant Bill in December 2016. This new legislation will effectively mean that all children in respect of whom a Domiciliary Care Allowance (DCA) payment is made will automatically qualify for a medical card and, therefore, no longer be subject to the...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Medicinal Products Reimbursement (22 Feb 2017)

Simon Harris: The HSE has statutory responsibility for decisions on pricing and reimbursement of medicines under the community drugs schemes, in accordance with the Health (Pricing and Supply of Medical Goods) Act 2013. In reaching its decision, the HSE examines all the evidence which may be relevant in its view for the decision (including the information /dossier submitted by the Company) and will take...

Written Answers — Department of Health: National Children's Hospital (22 Feb 2017)

Simon Harris: At the outset I would like to emphasise again that the project to develop the new children’s hospital is an extraordinary opportunity to enhance paediatric services for children. The granting of planning permission in April 2016 for the hospital, satellite centres and related buildings was a huge and very welcome milestone for the project. The first phase of construction (site...

Written Answers — Department of Health: National Children's Hospital Location (22 Feb 2017)

Simon Harris: The Government decision that the new children's hospital should be co-located with St James's on its campus in Dublin 8 was clinically led. In 2006, the McKinsey report, Children’s Health First, recommended that the population of Ireland and projected demand could support only one world-class tertiary paediatric centre, that this should be in Dublin and that it should ideally be...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Health Screening Programmes (22 Feb 2017)

Simon Harris: As this is a service matter it has been referred to the HSE for reply to the Deputy.

Written Answers — Department of Health: Medicinal Products Reimbursement (22 Feb 2017)

Simon Harris: The HSE has statutory responsibility for decisions on pricing and reimbursement of medicines under the community drugs schemes, in accordance with the Health (Pricing and Supply of Medical Goods) Act 2013. In reaching its decision, the HSE examines all the evidence which may be relevant in its view for the decision (including the information /dossier submitted by the Company) and will...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Hospital Appointments Status (22 Feb 2017)

Simon Harris: Under the Health Act 2004, the Health Service Executive (HSE) is required to manage and deliver, or arrange to be delivered on its behalf, health and personal social services. Section 6 of the HSE Governance Act 2013 bars the Minister for Health from directing the HSE to provide a treatment or a personal service to any individual or to confer eligibility on any individual. The National...