Results 17,761-17,780 of 45,789 for speaker:Simon Harris

CervicalCheck: Statements (9 May 2019)

Simon Harris: Yes. The commercial negotiations are very much nearing conclusion.

CervicalCheck: Statements (9 May 2019)

Simon Harris: Yes, it is the case but they are being stored safely and will be processed. I cannot go further than that. I know the Deputy would not want me to jeopardise what is going on at the moment but I assure the House that additional capacity is coming on stream, which will ensure the slides are processed safely. I can give women that reassurance.

CervicalCheck: Statements (9 May 2019)

Simon Harris: It is the case that the finalisation of the commercial arrangements in regard to the additional capacity is ongoing. The process is very much nearing completion. This will provide the additional capacity to ensure our screening programme operates at 100% capacity and can address the backlog. There will also be other significant benefits to the screening programme, which I would be more...

CervicalCheck: Statements (9 May 2019)

Simon Harris: Yes.

CervicalCheck: Statements (9 May 2019)

Simon Harris: I do not wish to take up the time of the House unnecessarily other than to emphasise again that a significant body of work is ongoing in regard to CervicalCheck. I sincerely acknowledge the positive and constructive role the health committee is playing in overseeing this and in continuing to monitor the implementation of the recommendations. I assure Deputy Harty of the ongoing co-operation...

CervicalCheck: Statements (9 May 2019)

Simon Harris: 10 o’clock As the Deputy has acknowledged in his comments, I am not going to pre-empt the Attorney General's consideration of what the legal landscape looks like-----

CervicalCheck: Statements (9 May 2019)

Simon Harris: -----but I hear the point made by the Deputy. As Minister for Health, I have a number of priorities here and I need to make sure they are complementary and not competing. The first is to make sure we are looking after women who were wronged and the second is to make sure we protect our screening programmes. I am aware that the Deputy is also passionate about that.

CervicalCheck: Statements (9 May 2019)

Simon Harris: The impact of the judgment on our health service will need to be considered very carefully. It has been acknowledged by many patient advocates and some of their legal teams that not all of the cases will be negligent. How one proves negligence is an issue with which many of us have been grappling. There is an important point to be made with regard to the Meenan tribunal legislation. It...

CervicalCheck: Statements (9 May 2019)

Simon Harris: Yes. Once we pass the legislation. We have seen the waiver of pre-legislative scrutiny and I believe we can pass that legislation before the summer recess.

CervicalCheck: Statements (9 May 2019)

Simon Harris: I thank Deputy Funchion for grouping the questions. The Deputy has made a fair point about the Meenan legislation. The Deputy has quite rightly indicated that people cannot, nor would they wish to, have two claims or go through two processes. I believe Deputy Funchion is asking me whether it is possible for a woman who had gone through the courts to have her experience documented by the...

CervicalCheck: Statements (9 May 2019)

Simon Harris: I have no difficulty whatsoever in making that information available. The work we have been undertaking, which has been welcomed by patient advocates, doctors, cancer groups and others, is to now try to have a really intensive focus on the backlog. The Deputy has not said it, but it is not true to suggest that everybody has been waiting a very long time. Far too many, however, are waiting...

CervicalCheck: Statements (9 May 2019)

Simon Harris: It was exactly because of the Deputy's last point that I decided to bring in a free repeat smear test. People on a TD's income and the like could have afforded to go to the doctor and pay for a repeat smear test. Some of the Deputy's constituents would not have been able to do that, however, and I was not going to allow an apartheid to exist in relation to reassurance. The circumstances of...

CervicalCheck: Statements (9 May 2019)

Simon Harris: I thank Deputy Kelly for the questions. I have no knowledge that-----

CervicalCheck: Statements (9 May 2019)

Simon Harris: -----Dr. Scally is working to anything other than the terms of reference. I cannot remember the date but I told Deputy Kelly in the House on a previous occasion, when he put the proposition to me, that additional laboratories had been identified which had previously been used in our screening programme but which were not, to the best of my knowledge, still in use. Dr. Scally provided me...

CervicalCheck: Statements (9 May 2019)

Simon Harris: Obviously, I do not agree with the Deputy on the free repeat smear test but in the interests of time, I will not rehearse the argument we have had many times. In my opening statement, I outlined why I believed it was the appropriate action to take. I do not have any more up-to-date figures available to me now but I am checking whether we can get them. If we can do so during the debate, I...

CervicalCheck: Statements (9 May 2019)

Simon Harris: It is still my intention for the HPV test to be introduced by the end of the year. We have reached an agreement with MedLab whereby it already uses the HPV test with regard to its backlog, which is an important point.

CervicalCheck: Statements (9 May 2019)

Simon Harris: I ask, with the agreement of the House, that we show each other a bit of flexibility because when a major question such as this is asked I will not rush my words because it is important. I am happy to be flexible.

CervicalCheck: Statements (9 May 2019)

Simon Harris: On theex gratia payment I take the Deputy's point. My position is that the scheme is very much under way and the letters of invitation issued to women yesterday. With regard to the recent court judgment I am limited in what I can say because the House should not discuss cases that are still technically before the courts. What I will say in light of the public and medical concern that has...

CervicalCheck: Statements (9 May 2019)

Simon Harris: I thank the House for giving me the opportunity to provide an update on matters related to CervicalCheck. It is over a year since issues related to the CervicalCheck audit emerged. I welcome the opportunity to address a range of issues that have arisen in the past year and outline the work that is well under way in my Department, the HSE and the National Cancer Registry of Ireland to...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Nursing Home Services (9 May 2019)

Simon Harris: Under the terms of the current GMS contract, GPs are required to provide eligible patients with ''all proper and necessary treatment of a kind usually undertaken by a general practitioner and not requiring special skill or experience of a degree or kind which general practitioners cannot reasonably be expected to possess." There is no provision under the GMS GP contract for persons who hold a...