Results 12,901-12,920 of 45,510 for speaker:Simon Harris

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

Simon Harris: I considered the factual position. As Deputy Kelly knows, when one is a Minister one is given advice and information and one then considers it and makes a decision. Some were of the valid view that Dr. Scally had recommended that a payment of €2,000 be made to people who engaged with this process because they went through considerable expense and inconvenience. Those who...

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

Simon Harris: I will get to that in a moment. I just wanted to make that point because it would be disingenuous not to do so while I was here. I do not have a lack of curiosity with regard to what happens in the labs, as the Deputy suggested. In consultation with the patient advocates, we commissioned work on the laboratory breakdown for the 221+ group. I shared that with the patient advocates and with...

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

Simon Harris: It has certainly been sent to this committee. If the Deputy does not have a copy I will provide her with one directly.

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

Simon Harris: As the patient representatives and this committee both have copies, I consider it published. It is freely available to Members of the Oireachtas, patient advocates, and anyone else who wants it. I have spoken about it at length in the Dáil.

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

Simon Harris: We have also seen Dr. Scally's reports in which he found serious difficulties with regard to procurement and a number of other issues. I do not have his words in front of me, but he did say that he did not find anything to be substandard or that there were any safety concerns. On top of that, we now have the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists answering the question as to...

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

Simon Harris: With respect, I do not know what, if anything, went wrong because the Deputy is talking about an individual case.

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

Simon Harris: I am aware of the limitations of screening, as is the Deputy. I am aware that cervical cancer is a most devastating disease and that it disproportionately affects younger women. I would like Dr. Henry to talk about them.

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

Simon Harris: Taking up that point, no minister for health anywhere in the world would suggest that things cannot go wrong in a health service, beyond the limitations of any procedure. Of course, that is the case. As the Deputy knows, determining that in Ireland is an adversarial process which needs to be reformed. That is why we have asked Mr. Justice Charles Meenan to do a body of work on tort reform....

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

Simon Harris: The Deputy and I cannot determine-----

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

Simon Harris: The suspension will remain in place until the chief medical officer and chief clinical officer advise me and the HSE to the contrary. As I informed the Deputy at our meeting, there are no imminent plans to lift that suspension and there is much work to do before we would be in a position to do so.

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

Simon Harris: The urgent care centre in Connolly Hospital Dublin is currently open from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. I would like those hours extended by an hour either side, that is, from 9 a.m. until 6 p.m. Children's Health Ireland is working on that. I have no confidence in some of the work practices of our consultants - absolutely none - when I see private practice and income being put ahead of the...

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

Simon Harris: I will ask Dr. Henry to comment on some of the RCOG matters. The Deputy and I both know Mr. John Wall well. He is a great individual and a great advocate. I met him most recently three weeks ago and he was also in touch with me yesterday. We set up a new clinical advisory group to look at what is going to be an expansion of the access to medical cards for people with a terminal illness....

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

Simon Harris: It will be dealt with from the primary care reimbursement service, PCRS, budget. I know the Deputy made a pre-budget submission which was generous and set a large sum aside for it. It will not be that large but I am happy to let the consultant applications advisory committee, CAAC, do its work first. I will not comment on individual cases, although I do not think that the Deputy is...

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

Simon Harris: Of course, I will, yes.

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

Simon Harris: I am very clearly on the record that I do have confidence in the RCOG report, that I have thanked the college for it and that I think it is a very robust piece of work. I am not trying to stay off the record on it.

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

Simon Harris: I have been clear that I met RCOG. I asked if it was satisfied about its independence and it said it has never been surer of anything. Its expertise is beyond reproach. It is true that there were errors around wrong letters and so on that it has apologised for. I do not feel as though I have the competency to go beyond that on the methodology the RCOG used. Dr. Henry has significant...

Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2019: Report and Final Stages (10 Dec 2019)

Simon Harris: I thank Deputy Naughten for the constructive way in which he has engaged on this matter. We do listen in this House when good suggestions come forward such as that on the minor injury units. We will have that statutory instrument formalised in the coming days. It is currently with the drafters. I hope to be in a position to sign it by next week. On the reviewing of the regulations, I...

Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2019: Report and Final Stages (10 Dec 2019)

Simon Harris: It might be Deputy Naughten.

Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2019: Report and Final Stages (10 Dec 2019)

Simon Harris: I thank Deputy Naughten for bringing forward this amendment. I will not be able to support it at this Stage but I will explain what action I intend to take following on from his request. First, it is Government policy and the policy of the Oireachtas to drive more patient traffic through the smaller hospitals. It makes sense to fully utilise our hospitals. I visited Roscommon hospital...

Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2019: Report and Final Stages (10 Dec 2019)

Simon Harris: Deputy Naughten also raised the matter he has just spoken about at length on Committee Stage, when my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Daly, took the debate on my behalf. My officials were in a degree of provisional contact with Deputy Naughten in this regard. My officials have also consulted with colleagues in the Health Insurance Authority and with the Department's internal legal...