Results 14,561-14,580 of 24,635 for speaker:Mary Harney

Hospitals Building Programme. (29 Mar 2007)

Mary Harney: I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 and 2 together. In July 2005, following Government approval, I issued a policy direction to the Health Service Executive to develop co-located private hospitals on the sites of public hospitals. The aim of this initiative is to transfer private activity from within the public hospital system to new privately-financed and managed facilities and thereby free...

Hospitals Building Programme. (29 Mar 2007)

Mary Harney: I hope Deputy Twomey will be re-elected. He should not be so pessimistic.

Hospitals Building Programme. (29 Mar 2007)

Mary Harney: First, I thank Deputy Twomey for his good wishes for the forthcoming election. I am not certain we will not have another health Question Time before the Taoiseach goes to the President to dissolve the Dáil. I return his compliments and wish him and all the spokespersons well in the election. The purpose of this policy is to free up approximately 1,000 beds that are ring-fenced for private...

Hospitals Building Programme. (29 Mar 2007)

Mary Harney: The greatest guarantor of keeping the cost of health insurance down is competition. One does not keep the cost of health insurance down by restricting the capacity of private beds. If one does that, one is insuring people who cannot get services. That does not make sense. In all markets competition drives innovation and keeps prices down. That is why I welcome the entry to the Irish...

Hospitals Building Programme. (29 Mar 2007)

Mary Harney: I do not accept that I have no mandate. The Government made a policy decision in 2005 and it is a matter for the HSE to implement it. We do not put the implementation of policy on hold in advance of or during elections. Everybody is entitled to access the public hospital system. Universal coverage is available in Ireland, which is not the case in other places. At present, however, not...

Hospitals Building Programme. (29 Mar 2007)

Mary Harney: I do not know whether that information is commercially sensitive but I have no problems with making it available. There are a number of bidders on each site and the HSE is following the new procedures introduced by the Department Finance of negotiating in advance. The process has continued for the past year and has been very successful in terms of addressing many of the issues which concern...

Hospitals Building Programme. (29 Mar 2007)

Mary Harney: I do not know whether issues of commercial sensitivity arise. There is no question of hiding anything.

Hospitals Building Programme. (29 Mar 2007)

Mary Harney: Yesterday, Mr. Finn addressed the Select Committee on Health and Children in private session and it is fair to say he was very open in his remarks.

Industrial Relations. (29 Mar 2007)

Mary Harney: The issues of nurses' pay and working hours have been fully processed through the State's industrial relations structures and procedures, the Labour Relations Commission and the Labour Court. While health service management has accepted the Labour Court recommendation, the Irish Nurses Organisation and Psychiatric Nurses Association state they have neither accepted nor rejected this...

Industrial Relations. (29 Mar 2007)

Mary Harney: No.

Industrial Relations. (29 Mar 2007)

Mary Harney: I agree that nurses are the backbone of the health system. They represent 35% of those who work in the system and are there 24-hours per day, seven days per week. They spend considerably longer periods with hospital patients than any other group of workers and do a fantastic job. In recent years, we have elevated nursing to a graduate level profession, with eight applicants for every...

Industrial Relations. (29 Mar 2007)

Mary Harney: Building costs are the same but that is not the issue. I visited Sweden where I met the managers of St. Goran's Hospital. It used to be managed by the state until the socialist government transferred its management to the private sector. The private company received the same amount the year it took over as the government had provided the previous year. Not only did the company make a...

Cancer Screening Programme. (29 Mar 2007)

Mary Harney: It is my objective to have an effective national cervical screening programme rolled out, beginning late this year. The programme will provide free cervical screening for women in the 25 to 60 year age group nationally and aims to reduce mortality from cervical cancer by up to 80%. For that purpose, on 1 January 2007, I established a national cancer screening service, which amalgamates...

Cancer Screening Programme. (29 Mar 2007)

Mary Harney: The former Minister, Deputy Noonan, established a pilot project in the mid-west, which was not the beginning of a national roll-out and much has been learned from that. I do not disagree with much of the Deputy's contribution. Cervical smear testing was introduced in Canada in the late 1960s while it was introduced in the UK in 1988.

Cancer Screening Programme. (29 Mar 2007)

Mary Harney: Since 1988, results in the UK have improved. Approximately 73 women a year die from cervical cancer in Ireland, even though significant numbers of opportunities for smears are conducted. There is a number of issues. The HSE did not go to tender because of the emergency resulting from a five-month backlog for such tests.

Cancer Screening Programme. (29 Mar 2007)

Mary Harney: It was done to speed up the process on an emergency basis because generally one is required to go to tender. Two issues are involved relating to capacity and quality. We all accept BreastCheck is a quality assured programme. It must be ensured cervical screening is quality assured and, therefore, that the laboratories are accredited and meet the standard required, which has not been the...

Cancer Screening Programme. (29 Mar 2007)

Mary Harney: We know the age group and the programme will operate similarly to BreastCheck. Everybody accepts that is a terrific programme and the same people will be responsible for the cervical screening programme. When a screening programme is rolled out, quality assurance is essential. The roll-out will begin later this year and it will take a while to roll it out to the entire population. The...

Hospital Services. (29 Mar 2007)

Mary Harney: I am familiar with difficulties that have recently arisen both in Cork and in Drogheda regarding the provision of maternity services. As the House will be aware, the new state-of-the-art Cork University Maternity Hospital was due to open last Saturday but did not because of non co-operation on the part of the Irish Nurses Organisation, which has been claiming that midwifery staffing levels...

Hospital Services. (29 Mar 2007)

Mary Harney: I am not familiar with the CSO figures that were released today as, in common with the Deputy, I have been very busy. However, the population is undoubtedly increasing in the eastern region in particular, which puts pressure on the system. I understand the number of births in County Louth has doubled in a six-year period, which constitutes a considerable increase. As for Cork University...

Cancer Screening Programme. (29 Mar 2007)

Mary Harney: I am committed to ensuring the BreastCheck service is rolled out to the remaining regions as quickly as possible. I have allocated additional revenue funding of €8 million for this year to meet the additional costs involved and I have approved an additional 69 posts for the roll-out. BreastCheck appointed the clinical directors for the south and west last November and has recently...