Results 12,821-12,840 of 45,510 for speaker:Simon Harris

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues (11 Dec 2019)

Simon Harris: -----in the same way that we made progress when Purple House Cancer Support identified a funding need and its funding was increased by €100,000. The Deputy and I both know Purple House Cancer Support well and no one doubts that it provides an excellent service but there is a process that needs to be followed. Let us follow that process together. I will meet the Deputy and we will go...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues (11 Dec 2019)

Simon Harris: If Deputy Donnelly and I, as constituency Deputies, sit down with the HSE locally, we can make quick progress on this matter. I would be more than happy to meet the Deputy and work this through with him.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues (11 Dec 2019)

Simon Harris: I will not, as the Minister for Health attending a meeting of the Joint Committee on Health discussing national health issues, get into the granular detail of the purchase of a single property. That would be wholly inappropriate.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues (11 Dec 2019)

Simon Harris: It is just outside our constituency.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues (11 Dec 2019)

Simon Harris: I have.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues (11 Dec 2019)

Simon Harris: I thank Deputy Donnelly for raising this serious issue and for his active work in this area as well. The Deputy is correct that dementia care is different from standard nursing home care. I have visited St. Joseph's, as I am sure has Deputy Donnelly. The level of care provided there is exceptional. The needs of the residents are extremely complex. We need more facilities like St....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues (11 Dec 2019)

Simon Harris: My clear understanding is that the NTPF did provide an assurance that the existing agreement could roll over, which would remove any immediate threat to any resident, but I can certainly get this reinforced. The Deputy's point is right-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues (11 Dec 2019)

Simon Harris: However, I think the Deputy's point about the need to provide people with that assurance and to bring the right people together is right. Can I also suggest that another group of people needs to be involved, namely, St. John of God? It is quite amazing that we have a conversation so many times about St. Joseph's and somewhat ignore the fact that it is under the patronage of the St. John of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues (11 Dec 2019)

Simon Harris: I thank Deputy O'Reilly for raising this issue. I will ask Mr. Woods to come in in a moment but I want to say a few initial things in this regard. I have also been contacted by many parents in recent days who have told me of the excellent work done by Dr. McCarthy. I do not believe I have met Dr. McCarthy directly but I have been given extremely positive feedback from parents of children he...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues (11 Dec 2019)

Simon Harris: In an effort to be helpful, I accept that many of the Deputy's points are fair. She and I, as the Minister, as well as the committee need to have an assurance regarding how Children's Health Ireland now intends to inject that urgency. I will ask Ms Eilísh Hardiman, the CEO of Children's Health Ireland to formally communicate with this committee in response to Deputy O' Reilly's very...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues (11 Dec 2019)

Simon Harris: I have met representatives of the Rotunda and have visited the hospital on numerous occasions. I was in direct contact with the Rotunda as recently as the last couple of days. I was not in a position to attend the meeting to which the Deputy refers. To be clear, we need to do something to help the Rotunda - of that there is no doubt. The plan is to move the Rotunda Hospital to Connolly...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues (11 Dec 2019)

Simon Harris: Does the Deputy have the name of the hospital?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues (11 Dec 2019)

Simon Harris: She went into a public hospital and ended up on a private ward. Is that correct?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues (11 Dec 2019)

Simon Harris: This might be an issue for my HSE colleagues. The Deputy and I both want to remove private practice from public hospitals but my initial sense of this is that one must opt to go private. I do not want to comment on this specific case without knowing the details and those details should be given to the HSE. However, my clear understanding is that if a patient is brought into a public...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues (11 Dec 2019)

Simon Harris: We will see.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues (11 Dec 2019)

Simon Harris: I thank Deputy Kelly for raising the matter. I do need to say, because he made the comment about the MRI, that he and colleagues, including Senator Kieran O'Donnell, at a previous committee meeting stated that based on their conversations with staff and management in University Hospital Limerick the hospital needed a second MRI and that if it got that second MRI, and the record of the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues (11 Dec 2019)

Simon Harris: Perhaps it was 20, although I thought it was 30. I then had conversations with very senior managers in University Hospital Limerick who confirmed the same to me. We have now delivered this.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues (11 Dec 2019)

Simon Harris: I accept that but it has been delivered. As the Deputy said, it will be in on Friday and it will start taking images on 19 December. I want to see a correlation. I was told if this investment was made we would see say 20 beds a day freed up as a result. The Deputy may not fully agree with this but anything he has asked me to do in a tangible sense in Limerick we are doing.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues (11 Dec 2019)

Simon Harris: Let me finish.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues (11 Dec 2019)

Simon Harris: I will talk about St. John's for a second. I want to say one thing about processing. The Deputy might not agree with me but I have to say it. The Deputy asked about the 83 beds. There is funding for 190 extra beds. We have asked every hospital in the country to put up their hands and state how many more beds they can open if we fund them. They are still coming in and 83 have come in....