Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)
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Question 197: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the purpose of her recent visit to the US; the health care units she visited; the benefit she hopes to bring to services here as a result of her visit; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6988/08]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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The purpose of my recent official visit to the United States was to visit a number of health care facilities with a view to seeing, at first hand, how services are planned, organised and delivered. These included the Mayo Clinic, Phoenix, Arizona, the Arizona School of Dentistry and Oral Health, MD Anderson Cancer Centre, Houston, Texas and the Veterans Administration (V.A.) Medical Centre in Washington DC.

The facilities visited are internationally recognised centres of excellence with proven track records for innovation and results. These meetings will be of particular benefit to me and my officials in the preparation of the National Oral Health Policy, which I plan to publish this year, and the reorganisation of our national cancer services which is already underway under the direction of Prof. Tom Keane. We also looked at a number of patient safety initiatives and developments in relation to performance management and use of information and electronic patient records, which will be of considerable benefit in improving health service delivery here.

I also took the opportunity while in the United States to meet with the Deputy Secretary, US Department of Health and Human Services, Mr Tevi D. Troy to discuss matters of mutual interest in health care delivery.