Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 140: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children the extent to which health expenditure has increased or decreased in the past five years; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8769/06]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 141: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children if the health services have expanded in line with expenditure in the past three years; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8770/06]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 140 and 141 together.

Gross current funding for the health services has increased by almost €6 billion, or 92%, over the last five years. When the increases required to fund general pay increases, benchmarking and other pay awards, non-pay inflation and increases in drugs costs are taken into account, approximately €1.8 billion has been provided for additional investment in services. The extra investment has provided for significant improvements in our health system across all of the main service areas including acute hospitals, primary care, disability, older people, mental health and child care.

I will outline some of the key achievements. The key goal of the national cancer strategy, which was to achieve a 15% decrease in mortality from cancer in the under-65 age group, was achieved three years ahead of target. There have been significant increases in cancer related services, particularly day care and inpatient treatments. BreastCheck had screened approximately 185,000 women by the end of 2004. The immediate benefits of the implementation of the Building Healthier Hearts strategy are evident. I refer, for example, to the increase of 153% in certain cardiology procedures, including forms of surgery, between 1999 and 2004. There were over 1 million inpatient and day case discharges from acute hospitals in 2005. This is equivalent to the population of Dublin, or to 2,900 patients being discharged every day. Over 38,000 people have been treated under the National Treatment Purchase Fund. The number of inpatient beds and day treatment places in acute hospitals has increased by over 1,100 in the past five years.

Since the end of 2001, there have been increases, in wholetime equivalent terms of 924, or 14.7%, in the number of medical and dental personnel, of 3,449, or 11%, in the number of nurses and of 4,428, or 49%, in the numbers of health and social care professionals. Some 28% of the population was in receipt of a medical card at the end of last year. All people aged 70 and over have had a statutory entitlement to a medical card since July 2001. One of the most significant developments in general practice in recent years has been the advent of out-of-hours general practitioner co-operatives, which allow medical card and private patients to access appropriate qualified medical care out of hours, including domiciliary visits where deemed appropriate, simply by dialling a lo-call telephone number. An initial ten primary care teams have been established under the primary care strategy. The allocation of additional funding for services for older people has allowed for an extra 2,000 home care packages, which constitutes a trebling of the current service. Increases in such funding have also provided for an additional 1.75 million home help hours in 2006 and in excess of 1,325 extra places per week in day or respite care centres. Some 97% of those registered in the national intellectual disability database — 24,078 people — were receiving services in 2005. The relevant figure in 2002 was 91%.

The current national development plan has provided for significant improvements in capital investment in infrastructure across all health care programmes. The new developments range from major projects to minor capital works such as refurbishment, re-equipping, maintenance and health and safety. Along with some service developments, they underpin the delivery of a modern, high-quality health service across the country. I will make some international comparisons on public health spending. In 2002, which is the latest year for which comparable data is available, Ireland's publicly funded health expenditure per capita was $1,779 in purchasing power parities. This is above the average of 14 of the 15 pre-accession EU member states surveyed in the OECD database. It ranks Ireland eighth among these 14 EU countries in terms of per capita public spending on health. Furthermore, the latest OECD figures indicate that public health expenditure as a percentage of GDP increased by 14.6% from 4.8% in 1997 to 5.5% in 2002. Based on the methodology agreed with the OECD for the calculation of comparable health expenditure statistics, however, it is reasonable to project that Ireland's public health expenditure as a percentage of GDP for 2006 will be approximately6%, which is a significant improvement and clearly demonstrates the Government's commitment to the health service.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 142: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children the reason home help hours for certain recipients were reduced in the past two years in view of the emphasis on primary care; when full home help hours will be restored to such persons; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8771/06]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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The Deputy's questions relate to the management and delivery of health and personal social services, which are the responsibility of the Health Service Executive under the Health Act 2004. Accordingly, the Department has requested the parliamentary affairs division of the executive to arrange to have this matter investigated and to have a reply issued directly to the Deputy.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 143: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children the number of persons here whose home help hours were reduced in the past two years; the reason for the reduction; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8772/06]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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The Deputy's question relates to the management and delivery of health and personal social services, which are the responsibility of the Health Service Executive under the Health Act 2004. Accordingly, the Department has requested the parliamentary affairs division of the executive to arrange to have this matter investigated and to have a reply issued directly to the Deputy.