Results 8,241-8,260 of 24,635 for speaker:Mary Harney
- Health Service Staff. (25 Nov 2008)
Mary Harney: I invite Deputy O'Sullivan to read what was said by the spokesperson for her party and those of the other Opposition parties when the organisation was being established, accusing me of not being sensitive to staff and so on.
- Health Service Staff. (25 Nov 2008)
Mary Harney: Since the establishment of the HSE, there has been a reduction of 10% in the numbers working at corporate level in the health service, and an increase of 10% in the numbers of professionals, including nurses, physiotherapists, occupational therapists and consultants. I introduced the legislation providing for the establishment of the HSE. Many other countries are considering taking the same...
- Health Service Staff. (25 Nov 2008)
Mary Harney: Yes, but one must first establish the organisation and put people in charge before deciding who should go and who should stay.
- Health Service Staff. (25 Nov 2008)
Mary Harney: All the best human relations experts in this State would confirm that this is the appropriate approach.
- Health Service Staff. (25 Nov 2008)
Mary Harney: It would not have been possible for any individual, no matter how extraordinary, to have sat down in any office and decided, when more than 50 organisations, including 11 health boards, were being brought together, which staff would be necessary to retain and which would not. It was known that the chief executive officers of the former health boards, since their roles were being abolished,...
- Health Services. (25 Nov 2008)
Mary Harney: I received the HSE's national service plan for 2009 last Tuesday, 18 November. It is being examined by my officials and I will review it later this week. As is normal, the plan will be published after I have approved it. Following the budget, I wrote to the chairman of the HSE on 15 October outlining my requirements for the 2009 plan. I emphasised that my priorities were to avoid service...
- Health Services. (25 Nov 2008)
Mary Harney: Regarding appropriations-in-aid, as the Deputy is aware, when citizens of one country come to reside in another, the country where such a person spent his or her working life traditionally pays for health services provided. In this case it seems we were overpaid in the past which is the reason for the discrepancy. Apparently, the amount of money we received was significantly out of line...
- Health Services. (25 Nov 2008)
Mary Harney: As the Deputy is aware the matter of co-location arises in the next question and we will deal with the matter then. The big issue with acute hospital beds is how they are used, it is not only the number of beds involved. There can be a significant discrepancy between hospitals in the country in the level of activity between one and another even if the budgets are very similar. That is the...
- Hospital Accommodation. (25 Nov 2008)
Mary Harney: The aim of the acute hospital co-location initiative is to make available additional public acute hospital beds for public patients by transferring private activity, with some limited exceptions, from public acute hospitals to co-located private hospitals. The beds in public hospitals that were formerly used for private patients will be used for public patients. In addition, public patients...
- Hospital Accommodation. (25 Nov 2008)
Mary Harney: I realise there is an obsession with co-location. The purpose of co-location is to convert some the beds currently available. Some 700,000 bed days per year are used in public hospitals funded by the taxpayer for private patients at a subsidy of considerably in excess of â¬100 million. Since I became Minister for Health and Children I have substantially increased the cost of those beds to...
- Hospital Accommodation. (25 Nov 2008)
Mary Harney: The banking requirements are a matter for the bidders and their banks. I am not involved in negotiating with banks on behalf of bidders. I was accused in the House for many months of devising what was termed a sweetheart deal from which everyone would benefit. Now the Deputy accuses me of a deal so restrictive that no one can raise the finance to build accommodation for these beds. That...
- Hospital Accommodation. (25 Nov 2008)
Mary Harney: The tax situation of companies is a matter for the HSE. However, I will seek to establish the facts. If the Deputy has information, I invite him, perhaps on a confidential basis, to make it available to me. The Deputy seems to be operating on foot of some information he may have which I would be very happy to receive.
- Health Services. (25 Nov 2008)
Mary Harney: It was 170.
- Health Services. (25 Nov 2008)
Mary Harney: There is plenty of it anyway. The Deputy is all right.
- Health Insurance. (25 Nov 2008)
Mary Harney: I propose to take Questions Nos. 74 and 93 together. A primary objective of Government policy in health insurance is that it should be affordable for the broadest possible cross section of the community, including older people and those who suffer ill-health. This policy objective has been implemented through a substantial body of primary and secondary legislation providing for open...
- Health Insurance. (25 Nov 2008)
Mary Harney: There is no price control on insurance. The Government does not have to approve the pricing proposals of any company in the market. Traditionally it was the case that the pricing policies of the VHI had to be approved by the Government but this all changed as a result of the legislation to move the VHI to a commercial situation and it is in order that this should be a matter for the board...
- Health Insurance. (25 Nov 2008)
Mary Harney: Since the Second World War no country has moved to introduce universal insurance.
- Health Insurance. (25 Nov 2008)
Mary Harney: It used to be the policy of my party. We have universal access to hospitals in Irelandââ
- Health Insurance. (25 Nov 2008)
Mary Harney: ââand we would never get to a situation where some people could not top up their entitlements, even with a universal model in place. If we are talking about paying consultants for the public patients they are currently supposed to see on their salaries and if this is the only element which some would advocateââ
- Health Insurance. (25 Nov 2008)
Mary Harney: ââthen we need to think very carefully. There are also implications for hospitals etc. in a system that is totally funded by insurers. These issues should be examined.