Results 15,921-15,940 of 16,537 for speaker:Brian Lenihan Jnr

Health Services: Motion. (12 Oct 2004)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: After decades of corruption, inefficiency, official manipulation and control by vested interests, the system entirely collapsed. The warm public response to the appointment of the Tánaiste as Minister for Health and Children is a reflection of the public's recognition that the entirety of the problem in the health service is not exclusively to do with the allocation of money, as some...

Health Services: Motion. (12 Oct 2004)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: It was also bound up with a considerable number of vested interests that have clung barnacle-like to this rock down the years. I welcome Deputy Ó Caoláin's intervention in the respect that he offered support to the Government in the difficult negotiations we must embark on with the senior branch of the medical profession. On the issue of Monaghan Hospital, I assure the Deputy that the...

Health Services: Motion. (12 Oct 2004)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: We must fund these facilities also. The Deputy made his political claim to fame urging the citizens of his native town to not pay for the rubbish that must be collected.

Health Services: Motion. (12 Oct 2004)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: One must pay for the goods in order to have them produced. The facilities also include: increased capacity in intensive care, coronary care and high dependency units at Portiuncula Hospital, Ballinasloe, University College Hospital Galway and Naas General Hospital; a new day ward and day surgical centre at St. James's Hospital Dublin; new orthopaedic services, trauma and elective, in Galway...

Health Services: Motion. (12 Oct 2004)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: ——a new maternity suite at Letterkenny General Hospital and a new medical assessment unit at Midland Regional Hospital, Mullingar.

Health Services: Motion. (12 Oct 2004)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: These new units include provision for more than 200 additional beds between inpatient and day places——

Health Services: Motion. (12 Oct 2004)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: ——and when fully operational it is estimated that the new units will increase inpatient and day case activity by up to 40,000 patients in a full year.

Health Services: Motion. (12 Oct 2004)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: Some 1,200 staff has also been approved to deliver these improved services throughout the country. I propose to concentrate on the substantial progress in recent years on the development of a comprehensive cancer policy. The Government has invested extensively in a national cancer strategy. Nationally, there has been unprecedented investment in radiation oncology services and a significant...

Health Services: Motion. (12 Oct 2004)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: I will come to them in a moment. There is broad recognition among health service providers of the significant changes that have taken place in recent years in improving cancer care.

Health Services: Motion. (12 Oct 2004)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: Between 1995-97 and 1998-2000 overall relative survival from cancer excluding non-melanoma skin cancer increased from 48% to 50% in women and from 38% to 44% for men. For women, there were survival improvements for the four commonest cancers, breast, lung, colorectal and lymphoma. For men, survival improved for almost all cancers, notably for cancer of the prostate and stomach as well as for...

Health Services: Motion. (12 Oct 2004)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: This has changed the experience of cancer. There is real hope for patients and families. The Government's focus is to ensure that there is access to services that deliver this experience for each and every person who is diagnosed with cancer. There is no doubt that this is a major challenge to our health services and a major disease, with 20,000 people diagnosed with cancer each year between...

Health Services: Motion. (12 Oct 2004)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: However, the number one priority is the development of the "backbone" of the service.

Health Services: Motion. (12 Oct 2004)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: The position as I understand it was that we had Dublin and Cork. Now we will have Dublin, Cork and Galway. Deputy Cowley should know that the report on the radiation services was prepared with the co-operation of his profession. It is the profession's recommendation. The Deputy must defer to the expertise of those with whom he has worked for the greater part of his life and respect their...

Health Services: Motion. (12 Oct 2004)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: I am not surprised at some of the other Deputies interrupting, but I am surprised at Deputy Cowley in this context.

Health Services: Motion. (12 Oct 2004)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: An independent evaluation——

Health Services: Motion. (12 Oct 2004)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: Deputy Breen did not refer to radiation services in his contribution. An independent evaluation of the 1996 national cancer strategy was launched last December. This report concluded that the key achievement of the 1996 national cancer strategy, a 15% decrease in mortality in the under-65s, was achieved in 2001, three years ahead of target. This reflects the cumulative additional investment...

Health Services: Motion. (12 Oct 2004)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: Investment to date under the national cancer strategy has enabled the funding of an additional 104 consultant posts, together with support staff in key areas such as medical oncology, radiology, palliative care, histopathology and haematology throughout the country. An additional 245 clinical nurse specialists have also been appointed in the cancer services area. The benefit of this...

Health Services: Motion. (12 Oct 2004)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: During the period February 2000 to December 2003, BreastCheck carried out approximately 133,000 screenings and detected around 1,040 cancers.

Health Services: Motion. (12 Oct 2004)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: The attendance rate for BreastCheck screening is in excess of international standards of 70%, with approximately 77% of those invited attending.

Health Services: Motion. (12 Oct 2004)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: The next phase, for which I assume Deputy Cowley is calling, is the roll out of the programme to the rest of the country, to which the Government is fully committed. Approval has been given for the establishment of a design team to work up detailed plans for the construction of the clinical units in Cork and Galway.