Results 13,961-13,980 of 17,531 for speaker:Jan O'Sullivan

Written Answers — Hospital Staff: Hospital Staff (7 Jul 2009)

Jan O'Sullivan: Question 277: To ask the Minister for Health and Children if all surgical non-consultant hospital doctors working in the mid-west network of acute hospitals are registered with the Medical Council; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [27803/09]

Requests to move Adjournment of Dáil under Standing Order 32 (2 Jul 2009)

Jan O'Sullivan: I seek the adjournment of the Dáil under Standing Order 32 to discuss a matter of national importance; namely, the need for the Minister for Health and Children to enter into meaningful dialogue with representatives of community pharmacists to agree a fair reduction in their rate of payment under the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Act 2009 commensurate with that of other...

Drugs Payment Scheme. (2 Jul 2009)

Jan O'Sullivan: I am glad that the Minister, Deputy Harney, has come to the Chamber to participate in this debate. The Minister's approach is based on section 9 of the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Act 2009. When that legislation was being considered in this House, it was understood that health professionals would have to take a hit of approximately 8%. I understand that is the...

Drugs Payment Scheme. (2 Jul 2009)

Jan O'Sullivan: -----opened up the market - she was certainly a PD at that time - it allowed many young pharmacists to come into the pharmacy business. They came in on the basis of the type of mark-ups and reimbursements that have been there, at least up to now, and were there at the time. Many young pharmacists took out bank loans and now have very high overheads as a consequence of the opening up of the...

Written Answers — Hospital Services: Hospital Services (1 Jul 2009)

Jan O'Sullivan: Question 39: To ask the Minister for Health and Children if she is satisfied that the measures to be put in place at the Mid-West Regional Hospital, Limerick in advance of the reconfiguration of accident and emergency and surgical services are all in place; if not, the action which remains to be taken in terms of physical infrastructure and staffing; and if she will make a statement on the...

Health Insurance (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008: Report and Final Stages (Resumed) (1 Jul 2009)

Jan O'Sullivan: I also seek more clarity. These provisions are quite complicated. In particular, amendment No. 41 states: Where, in respect of a period, the Authority has determined under subsection (5)(b) that the cumulative net financial impact of the relevant financial provisions on a registered undertaking or former registered undertaking was positive, and determined under subsection (6)(a) that the...

Health Insurance (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008: Report and Final Stages (Resumed) (1 Jul 2009)

Jan O'Sullivan: That makes sense.

Health Insurance (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008: Report and Final Stages (Resumed) (1 Jul 2009)

Jan O'Sullivan: Are there any obstacles to insurance companies getting PPS numbers? When HIQA announced that there should be new health numbers, it pointed that in many cases it is not appropriate to use the PPS number for health information. Has that been considered?

Health Insurance (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008: Report and Final Stages (Resumed) (1 Jul 2009)

Jan O'Sullivan: There are a lot of advisors already, the Attorney General and other legal people who worked on the drafting of the Bill. We are trying to save money. There are many people working in the Department, in spite of the fact that most of its functions were given to the HSE. The facility should exist already within the Department to provide the advice necessary.

Health Insurance (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008: Report and Final Stages (Resumed) (1 Jul 2009)

Jan O'Sullivan: I was going to say the Minister would make a good auctioneer.

Health Insurance (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008: Report and Final Stages (Resumed) (1 Jul 2009)

Jan O'Sullivan: I agree with this amendment, which states that the insurer must provide information to the policy holder, with which I have no problem. I am surprised it was not in the Bill originally.

Health Insurance (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008: Report and Final Stages (Resumed) (1 Jul 2009)

Jan O'Sullivan: I am trying to understand what is happening here. The Bill amends the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997. As I understand it, we are talking about cases in which the employer is paying the health premium. It happens in many cases that a person's health insurance is paid for by his or her employer. We are talking about the tax associated with the levy to achieve risk equalisation.

Health Insurance (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008: Report and Final Stages (Resumed) (1 Jul 2009)

Jan O'Sullivan: Will the Minister clarify who is paying the tax? Is it the employee or the employer?

Health Insurance (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008: Report and Final Stages (Resumed) (1 Jul 2009)

Jan O'Sullivan: Will the Minister clarify that it will not impose an additional tax on employees?

Health Insurance (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008: Report and Final Stages (Resumed) (1 Jul 2009)

Jan O'Sullivan: I do not particularly support Deputy Reilly in objecting to the specifics of the legislation. However, the Bill essentially proposes an awkward measure to deal with risk equalisation. It is not what any of us would consider ideal, and we will have to wait some years before we have appropriate legislation. The fundamental problem is that people are obliged to take out private health...

Health Insurance (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008: Report and Final Stages (Resumed) (1 Jul 2009)

Jan O'Sullivan: None of us, including the Minister, regards the Bill as perfect. It is a stop-gap measure. Will it be possible to introduce the proper legislation sooner than the three years suggested? Perhaps we will have moved to a universal system into which everyone must pay within three years, although no one knows what lies ahead. No one likes the idea of transferring moneys from one company to...

Health Insurance (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008: Report and Final Stages (Resumed) (1 Jul 2009)

Jan O'Sullivan: The health budget was only £5 billion when we made our proposal. It has increased significantly since that time.

Hospital Funding. (1 Jul 2009)

Jan O'Sullivan: One size fits all does not work in this case.

Health Service Staff. (1 Jul 2009)

Jan O'Sullivan: All Members will agree having an adequate number of GPs is crucial in treating more people in a primary care and community system rather than an acute hospital one. The Minister stated in her reply the current graduate supply is 120 GPs per year and hoped to increase that figure by "streamlining existing programmes in a cost effective manner". Will the Minister decode this HSE-speak? Does...

National Treatment Purchase Fund. (1 Jul 2009)

Jan O'Sullivan: The Minister, in reply to Deputy Reilly, said that there were five scoliosis surgery patients appointments rescheduled. In the earlier part of her reply she said, basically, that the private hospital system could not do this operation and, therefore, they were all rescheduled in public hospitals. I believe that is what the Minister said, in any event. That puts a hospital such as Crumlin...