Results 3,821-3,840 of 4,810 for speaker:Liam Twomey

Health Bill 2006: Second Stage (24 Jan 2007)

Liam Twomey: The Minister is throwing the issue back to somebody else again. It is her responsibility to deal with these issues if she believes they are important.

Health Bill 2006: Second Stage (24 Jan 2007)

Liam Twomey: The Minister does not have to be a physician to deal with this, she merely has to have a commitment to deal with patient safety issues. The Minister does not have to be an expert on every issue. I am not an expert on everything, although I do my best to understand everything. I know what I want for the Irish health care service. I wish to protect patients in a way that is not limited to...

Health Bill 2006: Second Stage (24 Jan 2007)

Liam Twomey: No.

Health Bill 2006: Second Stage (24 Jan 2007)

Liam Twomey: The Minister should ask her advisers. I am sure her relationship with them is good enough for them to tell her.

Health Bill 2006: Second Stage (24 Jan 2007)

Liam Twomey: Perhaps the Minister's advisers are afraid to tell her the truth. We also had a situation whereby a HSE official asked doctors to stop writing letters to senior HSE managers so a paper trail would not exist. This was why the situation in Leas Cross was exposed and why we need patient safety authorities. We need such authorities because of the way the board of the HSE and ministerial...

Health Bill 2006: Second Stage (24 Jan 2007)

Liam Twomey: The Minister has seen Fine Gael's health policy on this matter so she should understand a very important point about the way she is stigmatising psychiatric patients in the health care system. I want the Mental Health Commission to be given a separate role in patient protection and HIQA broken up. There is a role for HIQA within the HSE, but there is no role for it with regard to protecting...

Health Bill 2006: Second Stage (24 Jan 2007)

Liam Twomey: Has anything happened?

Health Bill 2006: Second Stage (24 Jan 2007)

Liam Twomey: The Minister is responsible for protecting patients. She is denying her responsibilities in front of me.

Health Bill 2006: Second Stage (24 Jan 2007)

Liam Twomey: Last year, the Health and Safety Authority, which is responsible for health and safety on building sites, fined a construction company €1 million for the lack of health and safety on its site where an individual lost his life. However, the Minister tells me she has no responsibility for what happened in Leas Cross or the health services when a company was fined €1 million in the courts.

Health Bill 2006: Second Stage (24 Jan 2007)

Liam Twomey: Under the Veterinary Practice Act 2005, the protections afforded to cats and dogs in veterinary clinics are better than the protections the Minister is prepared to say she is responsible for affording to patients in hospitals and nursing homes. Cats and dogs are more protected than patients in hospitals and nursing homes. Private companies are fined in the courts, but people die in nursing...

Health Bill 2006: Second Stage (24 Jan 2007)

Liam Twomey: This is a significant issue.

Health Bill 2006: Second Stage (24 Jan 2007)

Liam Twomey: The Minister should be interested in what happens in the health services. It seems to be thrown onto the Garda Síochána and the Government does not care about it anymore. This is the reason we need a patient safety authority so that when the Minister and I are no longer in politics and have moved on to other areas, some legacy will be left behind to protect patients. We cannot absolve...

Health Bill 2006: Second Stage (24 Jan 2007)

Liam Twomey: I do not think the Minister will last much longer. I call on her to outline the standards. Her record on protection and the implementation of standards is poor.

Health Bill 2006: Second Stage (24 Jan 2007)

Liam Twomey: The standards that will be used by the social services inspectorate. I do not refer to the legislation setting them up.

Health Bill 2006: Second Stage (24 Jan 2007)

Liam Twomey: The HSE was set up under the Health Act 2004 and came into existence on 1 January 2005. Part 9 of that Act covers complaints from patients about standards of care within the HSE. At a meeting of the Joint Committee on Health and Children in November 2006, nearly two years later, a HSE official admitted the HSE was still waiting for the Minister to sign off on the regulations governing...

Health Bill 2006: Second Stage (24 Jan 2007)

Liam Twomey: The proposed legislation clearly states the majority of services being provided such as hospitals are not covered.

Health Bill 2006: Second Stage (24 Jan 2007)

Liam Twomey: And public hospitals.

Health Bill 2006: Second Stage (24 Jan 2007)

Liam Twomey: The point I make is the social services inspectorate should cover all facilities where health services are being provided because patients are at risk in all institutions. Frances Sheridan and PJ Walsh were not in nursing homes when they lost their lives.

Health Bill 2006: Second Stage (24 Jan 2007)

Liam Twomey: The Minister should not be so dismissive.

Health Bill 2006: Second Stage (24 Jan 2007)

Liam Twomey: Is the Minister saying Frances Sheridan and PJ Walsh were casualties of the health care service?