Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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To ask the Minister for Health the amount paid to a company (details supplied) since February 2011; the reason for the payment; when his Department entered into a contract with the company; the value of the contract; the weekly hours of employment of the contract; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37066/12]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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Since February 2011, a total of €370,000, exclusive of VAT, has been paid to Value Based Solutions under two separate contracts for the services of Dr Martin Connor. Thefirst contract covered a period of six months from 2 June 2011 to 3 November 2011 and was for a fixed price of €250,000. On 29/11/2011 Value Based Solutions was engaged for a further three-year period, commencing in December 2011 and ending in December 2014. The total value of this contract is €480,000 to be paid in 12 payments of €40,000. To date, €120,000 has been paid under this contract. Neither contract stipulates/stipulated a set weekly number of hours but rather set/s out the services that should be provided.

Since the engagement of Value Based Solutions, significant progress has been made in relation to access and waiting times. In relation to scheduled care, for example, in August 2012 as compared with May 2011 overall waiting list numbers have decreased from 56, 020 to 51, 955, a drop of 7%. There has been an 85% drop in the number of adults having to wait longer than 12 months and a 63% drop in those having to wait longer than nine months. Equally, in relation to unscheduled care, the number of patients waiting on trolleys in EDs has reduced by 22% from January to September, compared to the same period last year (or 13,450 fewer patients). The number of patients waiting on trolleys has fallen from a record of 569 on 5 January 2011 to 139 on 7 September 2012, while the 30 day moving average (average number of trolleys over 30 days) has fallen by 35% in 12 months, from 302 on 5 September 2011 to 197 on 7 September 2012.

Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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To ask the Minister for Health the amount paid to a company (details supplied) since February 2011, the reason for the payment; when the Department entered into a contract with the company; the value of the contract; the duration of the contract; the weekly hours of employment of the contract; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37067/12]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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Since February 2011, a total of €82,000, exclusive of VAT, has been paid to the company to which the Deputy refers for services provided under a three-year contract entered into with effect from 26 March 2012. The contract is for the contracted company to provide services required to fulfil the role specified for the Director of Performance Improvement for Unscheduled Care within the Special Delivery Unit of the Department of Health. The contract is for an all-in price of €492,000 over the full duration of the contract or €164,000 per annum. The role is full time and the contractor, Ms Lis Nixon, is based in Dublin on a full time basis. Ms Nixon has an extremely impressive CV and was appointed through an open and transparent procurement process. An earlier open recruitment process failed to secure a candidate of sufficient calibre.