Results 7,521-7,540 of 24,635 for speaker:Mary Harney

Hospital Services: Motion (10 Feb 2009)

Mary Harney: I assure the Deputy that the staffing implications are being dealt with. I think everybody will acknowledge that this reform is being headed by a clinician, Mr. Burke, who is well respected in the region. He is enthusiastic about the reform and is seeking to engage with his consultant colleagues and others in the region.

Hospital Services: Motion (10 Feb 2009)

Mary Harney: Yes, he will have money to do it. I will deal with that in a moment. Even if no money were available in the morning, it would not be possible to maintain what we have in the region.

Hospital Services: Motion (10 Feb 2009)

Mary Harney: On Thursday of this week, we will outline the Government's response to the report of the patient safety commission. The commission, which was chaired by Dr. Madden, included patient safety advocates and experts from Ireland and overseas. The commission's report has been published, and Deputies are aware that it recommends the establishment of a system of accreditation or licensing in our...

Hospital Services: Motion (10 Feb 2009)

Mary Harney: I will deal now with capacity issues. Reference was made to the capacity of the accident and emergency department in Limerick Regional Hospital. On approximately two or three occasions last year patients had to wait more than six hours in that department. That is a fact. As Deputy Reilly knows, patients are treated on trolleys all the time; sometimes the only treatment provided to a...

Hospital Services: Motion (10 Feb 2009)

Mary Harney: The performance of the accident and emergency department in Limerick Regional Hospital is better than most. The hospital is challenged to provide services and that is the reason a unit with 40 critical care beds for high dependency patients will be provided.

Hospital Services: Motion (10 Feb 2009)

Mary Harney: I am aware of that.

Hospital Services: Motion (10 Feb 2009)

Mary Harney: Planning permission will be sought shortly.

Hospital Services: Motion (10 Feb 2009)

Mary Harney: Yes, shortly.

Hospital Services: Motion (10 Feb 2009)

Mary Harney: No, of course the unit will not be in place before 1 April. The Deputy knows that.

Hospital Services: Motion (10 Feb 2009)

Mary Harney: Equally, you must know——

Hospital Services: Motion (10 Feb 2009)

Mary Harney: Through the Chair, the Deputy must know what is happening here is urgent. On reading one of this morning's newspapers — I believe it was the Irish Independent — I note Deputy Reilly was quoted as saying that the salaries being paid by way of overtime earnings to non-consultant hospital doctors in the mid-west is outrageous. The reason it is outrageous, to use his phraseology, is because...

Hospital Services: Motion (10 Feb 2009)

Mary Harney: ——we have sought to organise services. Deputy Reilly talked about the letters I get from doctors. I get letters advising me that this and that is outrageous and asking if they could only have a little bit more here and there. That is what we have done for the past 12 to 14 years. We have multiplied nearly fivefold the amount of money going into our acute hospital services.

Hospital Services: Motion (10 Feb 2009)

Mary Harney: Given the failure to reorganise how and where we do things, we are not getting the outcomes or the value for money service we deserve.

Hospital Services: Motion (10 Feb 2009)

Mary Harney: The most important thing for patients is to be treated in the right place at the right time by the right people.

Hospital Services: Motion (10 Feb 2009)

Mary Harney: That is a fact. If somebody is involved in a road accident, the place that person should be stabilised is on the roadside. That is the international evidence. We have trained up to 12 paramedics, six for each county. We have already procured two specialist vehicles, which Deputy Reilly does not acknowledge, one for each county.

Hospital Services: Motion (10 Feb 2009)

Mary Harney: In Tipperary at night there is one call out. We have 12 paramedics in training, we have recruited 12 additional ambulance crew and I accept there are industrial relations issues. International evidence suggests that the best place to stabilise a traffic accident patient is on the roadside. The golden hour or two hour rule in terms of receiving treatment is not about getting to a place...

Hospital Services: Motion (10 Feb 2009)

Mary Harney: In regard to trauma cases, protocols are already in place in Ennis and Nenagh general hospitals to take those patients to Limerick Regional Hospital. That is the current arrangement. Those patients are supposed to be taken to Limerick and are not supposed to be taken to either Nenagh or Ennis. Hospital services and the re-organisation of them have always been a challenge for us in this...

Hospital Services: Motion (10 Feb 2009)

Mary Harney: Relations of politicians have also told them they are going to die.

Hospital Services: Motion (10 Feb 2009)

Mary Harney: I accept that GPs will be challenged because if there is no accident and emergency out of hours service, there will be some extra work.

Hospital Services: Motion (10 Feb 2009)

Mary Harney: No, in the case of Ennis——