Results 10,981-11,000 of 24,635 for speaker:Mary Harney

Cancer Services Reports: Motion (Resumed) (12 Mar 2008)

Mary Harney: Two issues arise concerning protocols. There are clinical issues, which are a matter for clinicians. We have strengthened the Medical Council with a lay majority. We are introducing competence assurance. We have a more appropriate fitness to practice regime. All of these measures, about which there was much criticism, will greatly help because among the issues that arise is when other...

Cancer Services Reports: Motion (Resumed) (12 Mar 2008)

Mary Harney: Of course I do. I told the Deputy earlier I was implementing the findings. I asked for the report because I wanted to find out what was happening. It is my job to make sure it is put right.

Cancer Services Reports: Motion (Resumed) (12 Mar 2008)

Mary Harney: Yes. I accept his report. The Deputy attended the press conference. I accept he may not have been present for all of it or perhaps he was not listening. I said then I accepted it.

Cancer Services Reports: Motion (Resumed) (12 Mar 2008)

Mary Harney: I said it in the committee last week also.

Cancer Services Reports: Motion (Resumed) (12 Mar 2008)

Mary Harney: I told the Deputy in the committee last week that I had asked the HSE——

Cancer Services Reports: Motion (Resumed) (12 Mar 2008)

Mary Harney: Regarding the Fitzgerald report, I said in the committee last week and repeat now, as I repeated earlier, that I asked the chairman of the HSE in a letter I sent him and in discussions I have had with him to make sure we act on foot of the findings, not just in regard to the specifics around Portlaoise but to determine its implications for the wider management governance and communications...

Cancer Services Reports: Motion (Resumed) (12 Mar 2008)

Mary Harney: I do. Can the Deputy tell me something I should have done? I am here to learn. I went to British Columbia to learn about their cancer service because I had been told by clinical experts here that it was one of the best in the world. I went there and learned a great deal. I met Professor Keane and asked him if he would come and work with us. To be honest, I did not believe at the time he...

Cancer Services Reports: Motion (Resumed) (12 Mar 2008)

Mary Harney: ——we must greatly improve the services available. I agreed recently to meet Mr. Vaughan, who is the chairman of the medical board, at the hospital in approximately two weeks' time. He wrote to me — I do not know if that is the letter the Deputy is referring to — and I agreed to meet him.

Cancer Services Reports: Motion (Resumed) (12 Mar 2008)

Mary Harney: I will answer that. Until relatively recently 36 hospitals out of the 52 were dealing with breast cancer. Nobody here needs to be a clinical expert to know we could not possibly resource 36 places at the level that is now required in terms of clinical support — nurses, doctors, equipment. That is a fact.

Cancer Services Reports: Motion (Resumed) (12 Mar 2008)

Mary Harney: This year the HSE budget is more than €15 billion.

Cancer Services Reports: Motion (Resumed) (12 Mar 2008)

Mary Harney: It is €1.1 billion more than last year. To put it in perspective, since the organisation was established on 1 January 2005, its increased budget is more than €4 billion. That is more than we spent on the entire service in 1996. It is a huge resource. There are many challenges in that resource. Health is very labour intensive. There is a major debate about therapies and the...

Cancer Services Reports: Motion (Resumed) (12 Mar 2008)

Mary Harney: The answer is yes; it is part of the contract of employment introduced many years ago for the officials in question.

Cancer Services Reports: Motion (Resumed) (12 Mar 2008)

Mary Harney: That was way in advance of the establishment of the HSE. Does the Labour Party want to change people's terms of employment?

Cancer Services Reports: Motion (Resumed) (12 Mar 2008)

Mary Harney: It is the job of management. In the case of the chief executive officer, it is the responsibility of the board and a sub-committee to examine the matter. Deputy Stagg can wash his hands all he likes.

Cancer Services Reports: Motion (Resumed) (12 Mar 2008)

Mary Harney: For too long politics dictated how health services were determined. From now on it will be about qualities, standards and safety.

Cancer Services Reports: Motion (Resumed) (12 Mar 2008)

Mary Harney: There is no passing of the buck.

Cancer Services Reports: Motion (Resumed) (12 Mar 2008)

Mary Harney: Between 2001 and 2004 the Midland Health Board received €5 million for cancer services.

Cancer Services Reports: Motion (Resumed) (12 Mar 2008)

Mary Harney: Portlaoise General Hospital received €500,000 in 2001 for its symptomatic service.

Cancer Services Reports: Motion (Resumed) (12 Mar 2008)

Mary Harney: When the HSE was established, nearly every health board, as well as the staff representative organisations, were opposed to the redundancy packages. I did know Portlaoise General Hospital was a centre of excellence. A centre, however, that deals with 46 cases is not safe.

Cancer Services Reports: Motion (Resumed) (12 Mar 2008)

Mary Harney: Up to 250 worldwide medical publications have stated a woman's survival chances are improved by 20%. That means one in five women who would otherwise die is saved if they are treated in a centre that deals with 150 cases a year.