Results 5,781-5,800 of 24,635 for speaker:Mary Harney

Health Insurance (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008: Report and Final Stages (Resumed) (1 Jul 2009)

Mary Harney: We are about to have a philosophical debate. When the Progressive Democrats Party was formed many years ago, we advocated universal health insurance. However, we changed our minds after being presented with the prospective consequences by a group established to examine the issue. What Deputy O'Sullivan is proposing is compulsory universal insurance whereby some would pay the full...

Health Insurance (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008: Report and Final Stages (Resumed) (1 Jul 2009)

Mary Harney: That is an accounting issue. The provision is in respect of 2011. The legislation will not be applicable in 2012.

Health Insurance (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008: Report and Final Stages (Resumed) (1 Jul 2009)

Mary Harney: That is correct. The model the Deputy describes is risk equalisation which proved to be a bone of contention. All companies or practices would find contentious a requirement to transfer money to a competitor. Under the model proposed in the Bill, moneys will be transferred by the State through the tax system. From that point of view, the proposed system is preferable to direct transfers....

Health Insurance (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008: Report and Final Stages (Resumed) (1 Jul 2009)

Mary Harney: Yes, it has increased to €16 billion, which amounts to 40% of all the tax we will raise this year. To explain some of the reasons health is so expensive in Ireland, TheEconomist article to which I referred notes that doctors are paid 3.7 times the average wage in the United States, 4.2 times the average wage in Britain but seven times the average wage in Ireland. We are all paid much more...

Health Insurance (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008: Report and Final Stages (Resumed) (1 Jul 2009)

Mary Harney: Yes, but I am not paid seven times more.

Health Insurance (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008: Report and Final Stages (Resumed) (1 Jul 2009)

Mary Harney: I referred to the possibility of introducing universal health insurance.

Health Insurance (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008: Report and Final Stages (Resumed) (1 Jul 2009)

Mary Harney: I was responding to Deputy O'Sullivan, who thought we might have universal health insurance.

Health Insurance (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008: Report and Final Stages (Resumed) (1 Jul 2009)

Mary Harney: In regard to comparisons with the Dutch health care model, a visit to a general practitioner in the Netherlands costs €24.80 whereas it would cost €50 or more in this city. We should compare like with like. Hospitals and insurers have closed or consolidated with the result that prices have risen very rapidly. This is not a perfect world. Yesterday I discussed health reform in the...

Health Insurance (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008: Report and Final Stages (Resumed) (1 Jul 2009)

Mary Harney: Since I triggered risk equalisation in 2005, there has been nothing but litigation. That is a fact. I do not know how many times we have been in the courts but we have not been able to transfer payments. We are now addressing the matter by way of the tax system, which I believe is fair. This is a short term measure which has been approved by the EU as a justifiable state aid because it...

Hospital Funding. (1 Jul 2009)

Mary Harney: I accept that, but the resources allocated to Crumlin have also increased. There was an 18% increase in medical staff and there are also more day cases, which is much less expensive for a hospital than overnight stays. We are hoping to arrive at a situation in Ireland where about 85% of surgery will be done on a day-case basis. We are at about 62% at the moment. Professor Drumm will...

Hospital Accommodation. (1 Jul 2009)

Mary Harney: More than 50% of adults with cystic fibrosis in the State attend St. Vincent's University Hospital for their treatment due to the expertise established there. The hospital is also designated as the national referral centre for all other hospitals providing treatment for people with cystic fibrosis. St. Vincent's hospital is undergoing a process of complete redevelopment. The new ambulatory...

Hospital Accommodation. (1 Jul 2009)

Mary Harney: I have been in touch with the hospital and the clinical nurse manager did the work the Deputy suggested was done by the family. She confirmed that. She also confirmed that she spoke to the patient on foot of the question tabled by Deputy Shatter, which was unusual - I would have thought it more appropriate that the question would have been raised and dealt with privately in the hospital -...

Hospital Accommodation. (1 Jul 2009)

Mary Harney: The delay arose because of dialogue between the architects nominated by the association, or the people involved in the cystic fibrosis community, and the architects and design team for St. Vincent's hospital. As I said in the House some time ago, that delayed it. I am not blaming anybody but I understand from the HSE that added to the timeframe. I am advised by the HSE that it will go to...

Hospital Accommodation. (1 Jul 2009)

Mary Harney: I do not know whether it means next week or the week after but contracts will be signed this year, the facility will be constructed next year and will be paid for at the start of 2011 and commissioned at that point. I am not aware of the plan to close St. Christopher's ward. I will have that matter checked and revert to the Deputy.

Health Service Staff. (1 Jul 2009)

Mary Harney: I propose to take Questions Nos. 28 and 79 together. I welcome the recently published report by the Expert Group on Future Skills Needs which includes workforce planning analysis for selected health care occupations, including general practitioners. Among its findings, the report indicates that the current gender distribution in general practice will be reversed in the future with a ratio of...

Health Service Staff. (1 Jul 2009)

Mary Harney: Deputy Ó Caoláin is correct that Ireland has a lower GP-population ratio of 58 GPs to 100,000 people when it is 67 to 100,000 in Northern Ireland and the UK, a difference of nine. Notwithstanding that, we also have restrictive work practices with up to 400 doctors not being allowed access to the GMS lists because of an industrial relations agreement. While we want to provide practice...

Health Service Staff. (1 Jul 2009)

Mary Harney: The number of trainees has increased from 84 to 120 since 2005, a significant increase. Discussions are under way between the Health Service Executive, the Irish College of General Practitioners, the Irish Medical Organisation and the Department on many of these issues and they will report to me presently. While I do not like using the word "innovative" in an inappropriate way, we need to...

Health Service Staff. (1 Jul 2009)

Mary Harney: The restriction on access to the GMS scheme was an agreement with the Irish Medical Organisation, representing general practitioners a long time ago. I have had many young doctors ask me why they cannot have access to the GMS scheme. I put a group together to examine this and it will report to me shortly. I see no justification for restricting access to GMS to any doctor. I acknowledge...

Health Service Staff. (1 Jul 2009)

Mary Harney: I spoke earlier about the number of locums working in general practice. I understand that the Irish College of General Practitioners, in conjunction with the HSE, recently published an advertisement seeking expressions of interest from practitioners who would like to qualify to be on the specialist register. The Irish Medical Council requires doctors to be on the specialist register in...

National Treatment Purchase Fund. (1 Jul 2009)

Mary Harney: I propose to take Questions Nos. 29, 53 and 71 together. The National Treatment Purchase Fund was established to tackle the issue of excessive waiting times for hospital treatment for public patients. The fund has been successful in fulfilling this remit. It has arranged treatment for more than 145,000 patients to date. Public patients now wait an average of 2.6 months for operations,...