Results 12,941-12,960 of 45,622 for speaker:Simon Harris
- 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....
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues (11 Dec 2019)
Simon Harris: That is fine. The Deputy just asked me the question as to how many of the 83 and it is 15 and they will open next week. If there are more in Ennis and Nenagh we need to hear them.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues (11 Dec 2019)
Simon Harris: I do not mean this rudely but not put forward by the Deputy but by the management of the hospital.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues (11 Dec 2019)
Simon Harris: The reality is that there is a situation and we can accept it or not. There are serious issues with regard to capacity in University Hospital Limerick and I am not getting away from it. There are serious issues. That is why we are building the 60-bed unit.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues (11 Dec 2019)
Simon Harris: It is being delivered by us. We are delivering it.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues (11 Dec 2019)
Simon Harris: We are delivering it.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues (11 Dec 2019)
Simon Harris: In fairness, I do not think-----
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues (11 Dec 2019)
Simon Harris: I do not think we are going to play politics with this.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues (11 Dec 2019)
Simon Harris: It is a very serious issue and we all know this. There is an issue because we need more of our doctors from University Hospital Limerick going to the smaller hospitals. As Deputy Kelly has said several times, he lives there. It is not happening. Surgeons are going to St. John's in Limerick but other doctors are not. They are not doing it. We can put more services and see more patients in...