Results 12,401-12,420 of 24,635 for speaker:Mary Harney

Confidence in Minister for Health and Children: Motion (27 Nov 2007)

Mary Harney: I presume the people in the Deputy's party——

Confidence in Minister for Health and Children: Motion (27 Nov 2007)

Mary Harney: I am just telling the Deputy what I heard and I was impressed that she was focused on the women because that was my focus.

Confidence in Minister for Health and Children: Motion (27 Nov 2007)

Mary Harney: I wish to deal with Portlaoise. In 1996 a Fine Gael Minister, Deputy Noonan, presided over a cancer strategy which designated Tullamore as the centre of excellence for the midlands. The health board was asked to appoint a regional medical director to oversee the implementation of the strategy and Dr. Donal Hollywood was appointed. In 1998 a meeting of the health board took place at which it...

Confidence in Minister for Health and Children: Motion (27 Nov 2007)

Mary Harney: I have half an hour to reply.

Confidence in Minister for Health and Children: Motion (27 Nov 2007)

Mary Harney: Three different hospitals got a little bit of the action, so when over €7 million was made available——

Confidence in Minister for Health and Children: Motion (27 Nov 2007)

Mary Harney: When €7 million was given for the strategy it had absolutely no effect because one cannot divide the kind of specialist service that a region requires between three hospitals.

Confidence in Minister for Health and Children: Motion (27 Nov 2007)

Mary Harney: That is what happened. I want to address the parties opposite because I have heard a lot about cancer care. On 30 January last the Labour Party and Fine Gael published their blueprint for health, the 'Mullingar accord' with 12 priority points, to great fanfare and so on. Was cancer No. 1, No. 2 or No. 3? No. Was it even No. 12? No. Not even a cursory mention of cancer care appeared in...

Confidence in Minister for Health and Children: Motion (27 Nov 2007)

Mary Harney: This illness will affect one third of our population. That is the reality.

Confidence in Minister for Health and Children: Motion (27 Nov 2007)

Mary Harney: We now have a strategy that Professor Keane has described as being among the best in the world. He has said so to me and to many others and I understand that this evening he said it on television. The authorities in British Columbia said the same and they have one of the best organised cancer care systems in the world, which I have visited. Professor Keane spearheaded the implementation of...

Confidence in Minister for Health and Children: Motion (27 Nov 2007)

Mary Harney: Why would anybody go with something different? There are 250 evidence-based clinical reports from clinicians around the world to the effect that one's chances improve 20%. That means that one in five people would die if not treated in a centre that can deal with volume and quality and have all the sub-specialists working as part of clinical teams.

Confidence in Minister for Health and Children: Motion (27 Nov 2007)

Mary Harney: That is what specialist centres are all about. It is not about centres of excellence. Every hospital in Ireland should be a centre of excellence. This is about specialist centres where key specialists work together as part of a team diagnosing cancer and, where surgery is necessary, performing that surgery.

Confidence in Minister for Health and Children: Motion (27 Nov 2007)

Mary Harney: Much of the follow up, such as chemotherapy, can happen in other places. Why would we not go along with that, given the clinical expertise in Ireland and all over the world? What are we putting first?

Confidence in Minister for Health and Children: Motion (27 Nov 2007)

Mary Harney: Why would we not go along with the implementation of those plans?

Confidence in Minister for Health and Children: Motion (27 Nov 2007)

Mary Harney: I wish we had done it ten or 20 years ago, but we are where we are and we are going to do it now.

Confidence in Minister for Health and Children: Motion (27 Nov 2007)

Mary Harney: We are not going to be deflected from putting in place the best possible cancer plan for the patients of this country.

Confidence in Minister for Health and Children: Motion (27 Nov 2007)

Mary Harney: I have spoken to Deputy P. J. Sheehan about the matters he raises.

Confidence in Minister for Health and Children: Motion (27 Nov 2007)

Mary Harney: Undiluted and unequivocal accountability and responsibility are issues I take seriously. We must be responsible for our actions or inactions. That is what political accountability is about.

Confidence in Minister for Health and Children: Motion (27 Nov 2007)

Mary Harney: We have established a Health Service Executive to implement Government policy on health care, to be responsible for the delivery of services. I did not dream up the HSE one day. All the advance reports examining our health system advised strongly that for 4.3 million people we should have a single entity instead of effectively 11 boards.

Confidence in Minister for Health and Children: Motion (27 Nov 2007)

Mary Harney: Deputy Naughten, Deputy Shatter's colleague, was enthusiastic about it.

Confidence in Minister for Health and Children: Motion (27 Nov 2007)

Mary Harney: I accept that. Of course I was elected. That is why I am here.