I propose to take Questions Nos. 378, 380 and 382 together.
I have met with the support groups representing persons who acquired hepatitis C and HIV via blood and blood products on a number of occasions and have always listened carefully to the issues which they have brought to my attention. Officials of my Department have regular contact with persons infected with hepatitis C and HIV and their families, and are familiar with the issues which are of concern to these groups. There are a number of fora where my officials, the support groups and the service providers meet together to work in collaboration on relevant matters.
Counselling, including psychological and psychotherapy services, is one of a range of health services available without charge to persons with hepatitis C, contracted through blood and blood products, under the Health (Amendment) Act, 1996. Each health board has a list of private counsellors who will provide counselling and who have undertaken to invoice the health board directly. Persons entitled to counselling may also attend any counsellor of their choice, once the counsellor meets certain professional criteria, and seek recoupment of their costs from the local health board. Whilst eligibility for most of these services applies to the infected person only, access to counselling is also available to immediate relatives.
Information on counselling services is contained in an information guide to services which has been distributed to every person with hepatitis C acquired through blood and blood products. A leaflet on counselling services has also been produced to give more information on what to expect from counselling. Copies of the information guide have also been issued to GPs and other health care professionals so that they would be fully informed of entitlements for hepatitis C patients, service availability, and appropriate points of contact for further information.
Each of the designated hepatology units has a hepatitis C nurse counsellor; some units have the services of a dedicated psychologist and others have access to the hospital's psychology services. Treating physicians are aware of the psychological effects of hepatitis C and refer as appropriate to counselling, psychology and psychiatric services.
The four support groups — Positive Action, Transfusion Positive, the Irish Haemophilia Society and the Irish Kidney Association — also give support to newly diagnosed persons and assist them in making contact with appropriate services.
The Irish Haemophilia Society, IHS, recently alerted my Department to the fact that applications to the Hepatitis C and HIV Compensation Tribunal under the 2002 Act had started to bring unresolved grief to the surface and highlighted the need for counselling for the families of the bereaved. The IHS suggested that they would be willing to facilitate the provision of a solution to this problem and my Department was happy to agree. If the Deputy is aware of any bereaved families who might be in this position, I would advise him to put them in contact with the Irish Haemophilia Society in the first instance.
The Consultative Council on Hepatitis C was established in 1996 and has 16 members, appointed for a three-year period. The four main patient support groups — Positive Action, Transfusion Positive, the Irish Kidney Association, the Irish Haemophilia Society — perform a vital role as advocates for their members and nominate six of the members of the consultative council. In collaboration with the Consultative Council on Hepatitis C and the support groups within the last year alone, my Department has published an information guide on primary care and hospital services for persons with hepatitis C; published two information leaflets — one on the Health (Amendment) Act card and one on hospital services for persons with hepatitis C; organised an information day on hepatitis C in Dublin Castle; and organised an international conference on hepatitis C which took place between June 25 and 27 in Trinity College, Dublin.
Plans are in place by the consultative council to produce further literature, including a booklet on transplantation, hold another information day later this year, and plan a second international conference for 2006. The council is also working on a range of specific service issues and is monitoring the implications of the health services reform programme for hepatitis C services.
In addition to the consultative council, regular meetings are held at national level between the support groups, service providers and my Department in order to monitor services and identify emerging needs on an ongoing basis. In the eastern region, a regional forum has been established where service users, administrators and service providers meet together to monitor services, resolve local and regional difficulties and identify future service need. The support groups also meet with individual hospitals and consultants to discuss specific issues of concern to their members. All four support groups are funded by the Department to provide support services to their members, and to represent their members' interests with service providers.
The identification of future service needs is an ongoing concern of myself, my Department and the service providers. The remit of the Consultative Council on Hepatitis C specifically includes advising me on future service needs. In order to address this area of its remit, the Consultative Council on Hepatitis C asked the National Disease Surveillance Centre to establish a national database of persons who were infected with hepatitis C through the administration within the State of infected blood and blood products and I have been happy to provide the funding for this project. Work on the database is at an advanced stage, and all four of the patient support groups are represented on the steering committee. As well as providing an invaluable resource for research, the objectives of the database include evaluation of the outcomes of treatment; monitoring the uptake of services and providing information for the planning and evaluation of health services.