Results 12,401-12,420 of 21,128 for speaker:James Reilly

Written Answers — Hospital Facilities: Hospital Facilities (19 Jun 2012)

James Reilly: I wish to advise the Deputy that there is no embargo on the reopening of closed beds. I believe we must concentrate on getting the best possible services for patients from the budgets available to us. This means we need to focus on how beds are used, on the throughput of patients, on reducing length of stay to international norms and on having as many procedures as possible carried out as...

Written Answers — Hospital Services: Hospital Services (19 Jun 2012)

James Reilly: I want to ensure that as many services as possible can be provided safely and appropriately in smaller, local hospitals. On this basis, the organisation of hospital services nationally, regionally and locally will be informed by the ongoing development of the HSE Clinical Programmes. The Framework for the future development of smaller hospitals has been drafted by a joint HSE/Departmental...

Written Answers — Departmental Reports: Departmental Reports (19 Jun 2012)

James Reilly: I propose to take Questions Nos. 126, 136 and 157 together. Professor Oonagh Walsh, independent researcher from University College Cork was commissioned by the Chief Medical Officer in the Department of Health to draft a report in relation to the practice of symphysiotomy in Ireland. This draft report is the first stage of a two-stage process in relation to this research on the practice of...

Written Answers — Health Service Staff: Health Service Staff (19 Jun 2012)

James Reilly: To date, the retirement benefits of more than 90% of staff who retired from the public health sector before the end of the 'grace period' have been fully paid out. The processing of benefits in some cases can be very complex . Where delays have been experienced, or where a retired staff member has requested to be paid some monies, the HSE has made interim part-payments. This is in order to...

Written Answers — Hospital Waiting Lists: Hospital Waiting Lists (19 Jun 2012)

James Reilly: The HSE March 2012 Report showed that a total of 158,850 patients are waiting less than 12 months for a first time outpatient attendance. A further 45,959 patients are waiting over 12 months. It is likely that these are an underestimate of those waiting as not all hospitals are currently reporting outpatient waiting time data to the HSE. The issue of Outpatient waiting lists was essentially...

Written Answers — Hospital Waiting Lists: Hospital Waiting Lists (19 Jun 2012)

James Reilly: Tallaght has participated in the SDU Scheduled Care Performance Improvement programme and as a result has eliminated the problem of excessively long waits for routine orthopaedic surgery. By December last year Tallaght had reached the Minister's target of having no patient waiting for in-patient or daycase surgery for more than 12 months for all specialties, including orthopaedics. As of...

Written Answers — Cosmetic Surgery: Cosmetic Surgery (19 Jun 2012)

James Reilly: I propose to take Questions Nos. 132 and 671 together. My Department's priority at all times has been that the three treating clinics involved in the PIP breast implant issue provide professional and appropriate care to their affected clients. The Chief Medical Officer has met with and continues to engage with the clinics to ensure that best practice and patient support is paramount in the...

Written Answers — Health Service Staff: Health Service Staff (19 Jun 2012)

James Reilly: I propose to take Questions Nos. 133, 569 and 592 together. In the health service, agency staff have traditionally been used to meet a short-term service need or where some flexibility in staffing a service is required. In 2011, although the HSE had negotiated new agency contracts which involve lower unit costs, the use of agency staff accounted for approximately €177 million. This was...

Written Answers — Health Insurance: Health Insurance (19 Jun 2012)

James Reilly: The decision taken by Vhi to decline to provide cover for the hospital facility at Mahon in Cork was a commercial decision taken by the Board of Vhi. While I was disappointed at that decision, I am not in a position to intervene in the commercial decisions of the Vhi or any other health insurer. I have raised the issue with the Chairperson and CEO of the Vhi in the context of competition...

Written Answers — Cosmetic Surgery: Cosmetic Surgery (19 Jun 2012)

James Reilly: It is not quite the case, as the Deputy has stated, that private cosmetic surgery clinics are beyond the regulation of the State. Healthcare professionals, including doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, pharmacists etc employed by such clinics are required to be registered with their relevant professional regulatory body. Much of the legislation governing healthcare professionals has been...

Written Answers — National Children's Hospital: National Children's Hospital (19 Jun 2012)

James Reilly: I propose to take Questions Nos. 137 and 142 together. As you will be aware, I established an independent Review Group to consider the implications of the decision of An Bórd Pleanála, received on 23 February 2012, to reject the planning application for the proposed construction of a national paediatric hospital on the site of the Mater Misericordiae Hospital. The aim of the Review was to...

Written Answers — Hospital Services: Hospital Services (19 Jun 2012)

James Reilly: The Deputy's question relates to service delivery matters and accordingly I have asked the HSE to respond directly to her.

Written Answers — Hospital Waiting Lists: Hospital Waiting Lists (19 Jun 2012)

James Reilly: I believe we must concentrate on getting the best possible services for patients from the budgets available to us. This means we need to focus on how beds are used, on the throughput of patients, on reducing length of stay to international norms and on having as many procedures as possible carried out as day cases rather than inpatient work. The work of the Special Delivery Unit, together...

Written Answers — Hospital Services: Hospital Services (19 Jun 2012)

James Reilly: Many of the Special Delivery Unit initiatives to date have been targeted at the patients remaining in acute beds post medical discharge and these have involved increased access to home supports and transitional care. A specific project aimed at improving the quality of care delivery to the frail older person is being finalised and a group will be set up to oversee implementation of this...

Written Answers — Hospital Services: Hospital Services (19 Jun 2012)

James Reilly: As the Deputy is aware, this country is facing a great economic challenge. In the current economic climate the acute sector must reduce its costs in order to deliver the agreed level of activity within the resources available to it. In terms of service delivery, we must concentrate on getting the best possible services for patients from the budgets available to us. This means a greater...

Written Answers — Hospital Services: Hospital Services (19 Jun 2012)

James Reilly: The matter raised by the Deputy relates to the delivery of services and accordingly has been referred to the Health Service Executive for direct reply.

Written Answers — Medicinal Products: Medicinal Products (19 Jun 2012)

James Reilly: The Health Service Executive announced on 3 May that from that date Ipilimumab (trade name Yervoy), the new drug for patients with progressive melanoma, was being made available. The decision was the culmination of a comprehensive technology review process within the National Cancer Control Programme which included the drug company submission, a clinical practice guideline from medical...

Written Answers — Health Service Reform: Health Service Reform (19 Jun 2012)

James Reilly: I propose to take Questions Nos. 146, 659 and 677 together. My Department has primary responsibility for advising me on issues relating to national policy development and review, while the HSE has responsibility for the delivery of health and personal social services. In line with the Programme for Government commitments, a series of legislative changes are planned to bring about radical...

Written Answers — Data Protection: Data Protection (19 Jun 2012)

James Reilly: I can confirm that my Department has not had discussions with the Data Protection Commissioner regarding insurance companies accessing the files of patients. Health insurers, in common with all other organisations and persons in the public and private sectors who collect, use, have access to or disclose personal data (which includes any medical information relating to living identifiable...

Written Answers — Health Services: Health Services (19 Jun 2012)

James Reilly: The most recent data on total expenditure on health in Ireland, which includes both public and private, refers to 2010 and is compiled by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) and published by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). This indicates total expenditure of €14,334 million of which €9,964 million relates to public expenditure and €4,370 million to...