Results 1,141-1,160 of 5,597 for speaker:Jennifer Carroll MacNeill

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Medical Cards (6 Mar 2025)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: I thank the Deputy, and I look forward to working with him as we worked together on the public accounts committee. Eligibility for a medical card is primarily based on a financial assessment, as the Deputy is aware, which is conducted by the HSE in accordance with the Health Act 1970. The HSE assesses each medical card application on a qualifying financial threshold. That is the amount...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Medical Cards (6 Mar 2025)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: Of course, every extension of eligibility means that we cannot do something else, and we have to try to get the balance right. In 2023, GP visit card eligibility was extended enormously. While that does not meet everything, if you have a GP visit card plus the drugs payment scheme plus, potentially, the long-term illness scheme, there are a lot of measures that the State is taking towards...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Medical Cards (6 Mar 2025)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: Again, yes, it is about getting a balance, and we want to extend eligibility and reduce costs as much as possible. The very last thing that I or anybody else in this House wants is somebody not getting medical care because of a question of cost. The Government has taken a range of different ways to spread the benefit it is giving to people in the broadest possible way in addition to medical...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Healthcare Policy (6 Mar 2025)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: Not only that, but when women do express symptoms, they have often not been listened to. That was particularly evident to me in the new funding we have given from the women's health fund to cardiovascular care in particular yesterday, where there was an acknowledgment of bias in understanding symptoms and the way in which women describe them. The implementation is ongoing for the second...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Ambulance Service (6 Mar 2025)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: I thank the Deputy. I have been informed in recent weeks that a benefit-in-kind liability was identified by the HSE for staff using the NAS response vehicles when travelling from home to work. A review is under way in the National Ambulance Service, which it is hoped will be concluded in April. The National Ambulance Service took the prudent step of informing relevant staff members of a...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Ambulance Service (6 Mar 2025)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: I thank the Deputy and of course, I clarify for the benefit of others watching and not for him in respect of the patient-carrying vehicle. I know that he knows this but perhaps others have not been as involved in this issue as his good self. This review was prompted by the National Ambulance Service itself. It undertook a review in September 2024 of the procedures governing the out of...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Ambulance Service (6 Mar 2025)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: I do not disagree with the Deputy one bit about the value of the service they are providing. The National Ambulance Service prudently is seeking a ruling on whether there is a benefit-in-kind liability and has informed people there may be a liability to put them on notice of that. We await a determination. The review is useful more broadly because it will look at the scale of use of...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Health Strategies (6 Mar 2025)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue, which has been a hidden difficulty for many women for many years. It is great to see it mentioned so freely in the Seanad yesterday and in the Dáil today. I thank her for raising it. It is estimated that one in ten women will be affected by endometriosis and although not all women will be symptomatic and not all women will...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Cancer Services (6 Mar 2025)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: I am a supporter of the public health system. That is what I am trying to drive investment into. I would like to see everybody treated in the public system. That is what this programme for Government and this House is about. It is about Sláintecare and delivering the best service in the public health system. My concern is making sure that happens. The Deputy has cited Sweden and...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Cancer Services (6 Mar 2025)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: Excuse me.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: General Practitioner Services (6 Mar 2025)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: I certainly understand the frustration and worry that comes with having difficulty in accessing GP services. That is not what we want. Timely and available access to GP services is critical to good healthcare. In rural and remote areas, in particular, general practice is often in a role of clinical leadership for patients for whom access to other services is farther away. Being aware...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: General Practitioner Services (6 Mar 2025)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: I always thank Deputies for raising practical problems and barriers I can interrogate and investigate within the Department and HSE. I do not know the status of every application so I really appreciate it. I am informed by the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, who also serves the community in Waterford, that she met HSE Estates last week on the Tallow project, which is important. She will...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: General Practitioner Services (6 Mar 2025)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: I will indeed.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: General Practitioner Services (6 Mar 2025)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: I have not seen that for some time. It is welcome to see it.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: General Practitioner Services (6 Mar 2025)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: The Government was making the same case during the election and continues to make the case for employing GPs through the HSE. It does not matter where an idea comes from. Let us just do it. Deputy McGuinness referenced barriers in his earlier intervention and I did not answer him. To be fair, the Government has tried to place a particular focus on rural supports. The 2023 contract is...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Dental Services (6 Mar 2025)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: I accept there has been an issue with the DTSS and the contractors numbers, notwithstanding the increase in fees and the increase of 44,000 in the number of patients being treated, which is something. Nevertheless, our figures for contractor numbers have gone down very considerably, from 1,500 in 2019 to 813 in 2024. In Cork and north Cork those numbers have gone from 35 to 26. I accept...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Dental Services (6 Mar 2025)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: No, it is not sustainable and that differential in money is not fair. This is why the emergency services are attempted to be covered by the HSE. We really do need to move to that new oral policy which provides fair and open access to people across every community and in a targeted way. That is about prevention as much as about emergency care. I appreciate what the Deputy has said about...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Cancer Services (6 Mar 2025)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: In 2013, there were just over 21,000 invasive cancer cases diagnosed in Ireland. By 2022, that figure had risen to 26,000 annually. Of course, the population grew very considerably in that time as well. That increase is in line with projections made by the National Cancer Registry Ireland. With a growing and ageing population increases in cancer cases are to be expected, with cancer being...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Cancer Services (6 Mar 2025)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: It is really important to look at where we are versus the rest of Europe in terms of the impact of the investment we deliver. The most important impact is that people are living longer and recovering from cancer and living with and beyond cancer. When we talk about investment, that is what we are trying to achieve. Of course we want to use the resources we have in a way that will deliver...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: National Children's Hospital (6 Mar 2025)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: I am anticipating that report but I have not received it yet. I have not been presented with it yet. Of course, I will look at it immediately. There are a number of different issues that are not the same thing. One is the report, and we will look at the issues that are particular to that. The others are the resources and the increase in the number of consultants, which is quite...