Results 14,441-14,460 of 21,128 for speaker:James Reilly

Health Service Administration (8 Nov 2011)

James Reilly: The provisions governing the appointment and role of special advisers are set out in section 11 of the Public Services Management Act 1997. In summary, the role of special advisers is to assist the Minister by providing advice; monitoring, facilitating and securing the achievement of Government objectives that relate to the Department; and performing other such functions as may be directed...

Health Service Administration (8 Nov 2011)

James Reilly: I have already indicated who is in charge of the health service - the Ministers of State and I take that responsibility.

Health Service Administration (8 Nov 2011)

James Reilly: Let me finish. The Deputy has asked who runs the health service. Clearly, I do not run it. I take responsibility for it, but it is run by the HSE and there is a chain of command through the Department for policy.

Health Service Administration (8 Nov 2011)

James Reilly: With regard to advisers, if I ask my adviser to pass a message or instruction to an individual in the HSE, I see no issue with this. It is the same as me picking up the telephone and saying it myself. There will be specific times when they will be asked specifically to make a request or send a message to an individual. That is entirely different from giving somebody authority across the...

Health Service Administration (8 Nov 2011)

James Reilly: I believe the Deputy is alluding to a specific instance in which I had already informed the chief executive officer of the HSE that there should be no further changes without bringing matters to my attention in order that I could study their implications. There might have been times when that message had to be reaffirmed, and this was done through an adviser. I do not see an issue with...

Health Service Administration (8 Nov 2011)

James Reilly: I cannot get more brief than "Yes".

Accident and Emergency Services (8 Nov 2011)

James Reilly: I am preparing a framework for the future development of smaller hospitals, which includes St. Columcille's, Loughlinstown. The HSE and my Department are working with the Health Information and Quality Authority, HIQA, on the safety aspects concerned. As I stated earlier, consultation covering all the key stakeholders, including patients and public representatives, will be an integral part...

Accident and Emergency Services (8 Nov 2011)

James Reilly: Deputy Boyd Barrett would be correct in his assumption of the additional thousands turning up at St. Vincent's Hospital if it was the case that they could not be seen at Loughlinstown.

Accident and Emergency Services (8 Nov 2011)

James Reilly: It will not be half. First, the numbers of people who attend after 8 p.m. are quite small. Second, most of the patients can still be catered for in a minor injuries or urgent care centre. Only cases involving serious multiple trauma, undifferentiated chest pains and acute abdomen pains end up going to St. Vincent's. Consequently, the numbers will be nothing like those which the Deputy...

Accident and Emergency Services (8 Nov 2011)

James Reilly: I must beg to differ with the Deputy opposite, as it does add up. What is required is for appropriate services to be available in the appropriate setting and that they are safe. I have made the point previously that there has been much talk about what has gone out of small hospitals. However, one should wait for the rows that will take place when we begin to take stuff out of the bigger...

Accident and Emergency Services (8 Nov 2011)

James Reilly: No, not at all. I told the Deputy there would be a consultation process. There is a menu of approximately 24 different types of procedures that can be carried out safely at present. However, this is a dynamic situation and this list may be added to next year as things change, as medical procedures and surgical techniques improve and as more stuff will leave the bigger hospitals for the...

Hospital Services (8 Nov 2011)

James Reilly: The health service requires strong management capacity to deliver on service targets in an effective and efficient way within available resources, and also to lead change in a complex environment. Over a period the HSE has identified a need to develop management capacity, especially in certain hospitals. In June 2011, the executive invited tenders from potential service providers for a...

Hospital Services (8 Nov 2011)

James Reilly: We are not of the view that hospitals are being downgraded; they are changing the emphasis on the care they provide. Our primary concern is that hospitals are safe. Decisions are still in the process of being assessed; therefore, no final decisions have been made. We are evaluating the matter. All of the hospitals are different and the universal health insurance implementation commission...

Hospital Services (8 Nov 2011)

James Reilly: Each Minister receives a capital budget and it is his or her responsibility and that of his or her Department to make the relevant decisions in respect of that budget. That has always been and remains the case.

Hospital Services (8 Nov 2011)

James Reilly: I am committed to ensuring acute hospital services at national, regional and local level will be provided in a clinically appropriate and efficient manner. In particular, I want to ensure that as many services as possible can be provided safely in smaller hospitals. To this end, the Government will publish a framework for the development of smaller hospitals to set out how their future will...

Hospital Services (8 Nov 2011)

James Reilly: I am not sure what was the supplementary question.

Hospital Services (8 Nov 2011)

James Reilly: I made the position clear. I made clear why we face the position in which we find ourselves. It is due to the current economic fiasco left by the preceding Government. The health sector, just like any other of the spending Departments, must make savings and we have had to make very unpleasant decisions to stay within budget. These are not decisions that I particularly like but they must...

Health Services (8 Nov 2011)

James Reilly: The figure of €320 million to which the Deputy refers is the overall projected overrun in the HSE Vote. The latest Vote data have reduced this forecast to €300 million. The HSE was required to make gross savings of €962 million in its national service plan this year. The plan which was approved in December 2010 requires the HSE to operate within the limits of its Voted allocation and...

Health Services (8 Nov 2011)

James Reilly: I made it very clear that I would be a far more hands-on Minister than my predecessor. The budgetary problems to which the Deputy alluded exist for the obvious reason I mentioned, namely, the performance of the Deputy's Government. Notwithstanding this, there is good news. Ultimate the buck stops with me; that is what I stated I would do and the Secretary General and the HSE report in....

Health Services (8 Nov 2011)

James Reilly: Excuse me. I did not interrupt the Deputy. Perhaps he would like to hear some good news for the people of Cork and Cork University Hospital in particular. It has introduced new theatre practices, and their use in only five theatres, which is only 5% of all theatres in the country, has already yielded considerable savings. It uses its medical admissions unit in such a way that one quarter...