Joe McHugh
Question:718. Deputy Joe McHugh asked the Minister for Health his plans for cross border synergies in health following recent meetings with Minister Edwin Poots; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4359/13]
View answerCross-Border Co-operation
Questions (718)
Written answers
Priorities for cross-Border co-operation in the field of health include those being progressed through the structures of the North South Ministerial Council and also through ongoing engagement at official level. Collaboration is taking place on a wide range of health and social care issues including, for example, radiotherapy services, paediatric congenital cardiac services, health promotion, cancer research, food safety, suicide prevention and e-health. Health Ministers in both jurisdictions meet under the auspices of the North South Ministerial Council and continually review the existing arrangements for co-operation and explore other areas for collaboration where mutual benefit for both populations is demonstrated. I am very much committed to working with Minister Poots on issues of common concern and benefit, particularly as both jurisdictions are currently implementing ambitious reform programmes in the health sector.
Generic Drugs Substitution
Questions (719)
Billy Kelleher
Question:719. Deputy Billy Kelleher asked the Minister for Health if the European Commission has recommended to him a strict new system mandating doctors to prescribe generic drugs when available; if he intends to proceed with such a recommendation; if such changes could be introduced by regulation or if legislation will be necessary; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4370/13]
View answerWritten answers
The European Commission has completed its eighth review of the EU-IMF financial assistance programme for Ireland and has published the technical report by the Directorate General for Economic and Financial Affairs (ECFIN) which assesses programme implementation by the Irish authorities. The report published on 28 January 2013 identifies areas where the joint EC-ECB-IMF mission considers that further efficiencies could be achieved in the health system. This includes compulsory prescription by active ingredient rather than by brand name with exceptions only for "non-substitutability" cases. The implications of this recommendation are being examined by my Department at present.
National Treatment Purchase Fund Payments
Questions (720)
Billy Kelleher
Question:720. Deputy Billy Kelleher asked the Minister for Health the current status of the National Treatment Purchase Fund; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4371/13]
View answerWritten answers
In July 2011 I announced changes to the remit of the NTPF, namely its role would be changed to support the mission of the Special Delivery Unit (SDU). The NTPF is now fully aligned with the SDU and is targeting waiting lists strategically and incentivising hospitals to manage their waiting times proactively. The NTPF capability is a core part of the SDU's performance-improvement role in holding public hospitals to account.
Statutory responsibility for the collection, collation and validation of data on waiting times and numbers of persons waiting for hospital treatment rests with the NTPF. The NTPF collects information on hospital in-patients and day case waiting times and has now taken over the reporting of outpatient waiting time data. The collation and analysis of outpatient waiting time data in a standardised format will reveal the distribution of long waiters across all hospitals. In the first instance, this will allow the SDU to target resources towards those patients who are waiting longest and ensure that they are seen and assessed. A maximum waiting time target has now been set of 12 months for a first-time outpatient appointment by 30 November 2013. In parallel with reducing the numbers of longest waiters, the SDU will also work with the HSE clinical programmes to reform the structure, organisation and delivery of outpatient services to ensure that the right patient is seen and assessed by the right health professional at the right time.
Irish Medical Organisation
Questions (721)
Billy Kelleher
Question:721. Deputy Billy Kelleher asked the Minister for Health if his Department was informed in 2004 that the Irish Medical Organisation was setting up a company called Irish Medical Educational Services Limited; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4372/13]
View answerWritten answers
The Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) is an independent body and is not under any obligation to inform the Department of Health of the setting up of a company such as the one referred to. My Department has no record of any correspondence received from the IMO on this matter.
Medicinal Products Supply
Questions (722)
Róisín Shortall
Question:722. Deputy Róisín Shortall asked the Minister for Health further to Parliamentary Question No. 701 of 27 November 2012, if he will provide an update on the prescribing trend in respect of Benzodiazepines and the outcome of the Primary Care Reimbursement Service project to monitor the prescribing patterns of Benzodiazepines; and if the prescribing patterns of psychiatric services and other institutions are now included in this project. [4376/13]
View answerWritten answers
The HSE has developed and made available on-line to GPs for some time, an individualized prescribing report whereby the individual GP can access their personal prescribing of Benzodiazepines on a monthly basis and also benchmark their own prescribing against their peers. This is standardised for gender and age of the GP's panel. One hundred percent of GPs have access to the website and the majority are active users.
To further assist GPs, a snapshot of Benzodiazepine/'Z' claims presented in community pharmacies for the month of November 2011 was generated in January 2012 and provided to each GMS doctor at the end of January 2012. Three pieces of information were provided in the letter to all GMS GPs:
1. the prescribing frequency standardised for gender/panel profile of benzodiazepines and ‘Z’ medicines;
2. the number of patients who were presenting prescriptions for periods more than three, six and12 months; and
3. a pictorial representation of their individual prescribing against the national profile.
This exercise was repeated during the year. It is important that sufficient time is given between such reports to enable the GP to reflect and consider adjustment of practice where appropriate. Individual GPs have generally been very supportive of the initiative to date. In line with the policy to standardise the arrangements under the State drug schemes and ensure that GPs have a full involvement in their patients medications as whole, including their psychiatric drugs, clients who hold a medical card, in the former Eastern Regional Health Authority area, now attend their GP to get their outpatient prescription from psychiatric services written on a GMS prescription form. This enables a more complete overview to be conducted prospectively but has complicated the trend analysis for 2011/2012. Hospital in-patient prescribing is not captured by the information available through the Primary Care Reimbursement Service.
Question No. 723 answered with Question No. 654.
Medical Card Applications
Questions (724)
James Bannon
Question:724. Deputy James Bannon asked the Minister for Health the position regarding a medical card in respect of a person (details supplied) in County Longford; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4387/13]
View answerWritten answers
The Health Service Executive has been asked to examine this matter and to reply to the Deputy as soon as possible.
Medical Card Applications
Questions (725)
James Bannon
Question:725. Deputy James Bannon asked the Minister for Health if he will facilitate persons (details supplied) in County Westmeath with full medical cards; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4389/13]
View answerWritten answers
The Health Service Executive has been asked to examine this matter and to reply to the Deputy as soon as possible.
Hospital Waiting Lists
Questions (726)
James Bannon
Question:726. Deputy James Bannon asked the Minister for Health the position regarding an operation in respect of a person (details supplied) in County Longford; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4390/13]
View answerWritten answers
The management of in-patient and day-case waiting lists for patients awaiting public health care is based on the principle that after urgent and cancer patients are treated, then clinically assessed routine patients should be seen in chronological order (i.e. longest waiter first). Regarding the specific query raised by the Deputy, as this is a service matter, it has been referred to the HSE for direct reply.
Hospital Waiting Lists
Questions (727)
John McGuinness
Question:727. Deputy John McGuinness asked the Minister for Health if a scan for disc assessment will be arranged as a matter of urgency in respect of a person (details supplied) in County Kilkenny. [4396/13]
View answerWritten answers
On the specific query raised by the Deputy, as this is a service matter, it has been referred to the HSE for direct reply. Should the patient's general practitioner consider that the patient's condition warrants an earlier appointment, he or she would be in the best position to take the matter up with the consultant and hospital involved.
Question No. 728 answered with Question No. 690.
HSE Agency Staff Expenditure
Questions (729)
Kevin Humphreys
Question:729. Deputy Kevin Humphreys asked the Minister for Health the cost of engaging agency nurse staff to the State in 2011 and 2012; if he will provide a breakdown of the costs by hospital or other health facility; the total number of positions filled by agency nurses in each of those years and the whole time equivalent number both nationally and by hospital; if he will provide a list of the companies through which agency staff are sourced in each of those years and the amount paid to each in that time; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4399/13]
View answerWritten answers
As the use of agency staff is a matter for the HSE in the first instance, the Deputy's enquiry has been referred to the Health Service Executive for direct reply.
Health Services Staff
Questions (730)
Kevin Humphreys
Question:730. Deputy Kevin Humphreys asked the Minister for Health the cost of the hiring a nurse full time on the first point of the salary scale; the number of nurses employed full time here; if he will provide a breakdown of those numbers by hospital or other health facility; the number of nurses that may be employed under the employment control framework; the number that retired in 2011 and 2012; the number hired permanently in those years and the number that may be hired permanently in 2013; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4400/13]
View answerWritten answers
The first point of the general staff nurse scale for nurses employed after 1 January 2011 is €27,211. However, the cost of hiring a nurse full time would be greater than this when employers' PRSI and premium payments are factored in. At 31 December 2012 there were 34,637 WTEs employed in the nursing staff category in the health service. This figure includes categories such as public health nurses as well as nursing management staff.
The Government has decided that the numbers employed across the public service must be reduced in order to meet its fiscal and budgetary targets. The health sector must make its contribution to that reduction. This policy requires that by the end of 2013, the health service achieves a work force of 98,955 whole-time equivalents (WTEs). This figure is not broken down by staff category. The HSE may continue to recruit nurses and midwives in exceptional circumstances where it has been established that there is an urgent service requirement and this can be accommodated within the budgetary and staff number limits in place. Such recruitment is separate to and independent of the Graduate Employment Initiative recently launched. Nursing staff appointed under that scheme will not be counted for the purposes of the health Employment Control Framework. I have asked the HSE to respond directly to the Deputy in relation to the more detailed aspects of the question.
Hospital Waiting Lists
Questions (731)
John Browne
Question:731. Deputy John Browne asked the Minister for Health if he will arrange to have a person (details supplied) in County Wexford treated as urgent by the Health Service Executive in respect of an appointment sought to deal with mobility requirements. [4414/13]
View answerWritten answers
Improving access to outpatient services is a key priority for the Government. Building on work already undertaken by the HSE, the NTPF has now taken over the reporting of outpatient waiting time data. The collation and analysis of outpatient waiting time data in a standardised format will reveal the distribution of long waiters across all hospitals. In the first instance, this will allow the SDU and NTPF to target their resources towards those patients who are waiting longest and ensure that they are seen and assessed. A maximum waiting time target has now been set of 12 months for a first time outpatient appointment by 30 November 2013.
In parallel with reducing the numbers of longest waiters, the SDU will also work with the HSE clinical programmes to reform the structure, organisation and delivery of outpatient services to ensure that the right patient is seen and assessed by the right health professional at the right time. Should the patient's general practitioner consider that the patient's condition warrants an earlier appointment, he/she would be in the best position to take the matter up with the consultant and hospital involved. On the specific query raised by the Deputy, as this is a service matter, it has been referred to the HSE for direct reply.
Question No. 732 answered with Question No. 661.
Mental Health Services Provision
Questions (733)
John McGuinness
Question:733. Deputy John McGuinness asked the Minister for Health if he will expedite an appointment with the autism liaison nurse in respect of a person (details supplied) in County Kilkenny. [4444/13]
View answerWritten answers
The particular issue raised by the Deputy is a service matter for the Health Service Executive. Accordingly I have arranged for the question to be referred to the Health Service Executive for direct reply to the Deputy.
Medical Card Applications
Questions (734)
John McGuinness
Question:734. Deputy John McGuinness asked the Minister for Health the position regarding a medical card application in respect of a person (details supplied) in County Kilkenny [4447/13]
View answerWritten answers
The Health Service Executive has been asked to examine this matter and to reply to the Deputy as soon as possible.
Cancer Screening Programmes
Questions (735)
Finian McGrath
Question:735. Deputy Finian McGrath asked the Minister for Health if his attention has been drawn to the fact that 50% of medical card holders are likely to have abnormal smear test results especially in poorer areas; and the action he will take on this matter. [4550/13]
View answerWritten answers
CervicalCheck, the national cervical screening programme is available to over 1.1 million eligible women aged 25 to 60 years. CervicalCheck aims to reduce the incidence of and mortality from cervical cancer by detecting changes in the cells of the cervix before they become cancerous. It is a priority for the National Cancer Screening Service (NCSS) to ensure that its programmes are accessible to all eligible women in the population. Some women experience challenges and barriers that hinder their access to screening services for different reasons including fear, anxiety, intellectual and physical disabilities, language barriers and literacy difficulties.
The NCSS has a comprehensive communications and screening promotion approach that aims to inform, educate and encourage women to participate in the CervicalCheck programme. Communication includes public relations, advertising and screening promotion. The NCSS has a team of screening promotion officers based in Cork, Dublin, Galway and Limerick who work on a national basis. The overarching aim of screening promotion is to increase awareness. The team has implemented specific initiatives to help overcome barriers and to encourage eligible women, particularly harder-to-reach women, to participate in CervicalCheck.
Disability Support Services Provision
Questions (736)
Finian McGrath
Question:736. Deputy Finian McGrath asked the Minister for Health if his attention has been drawn to the fact that the 5% cut to disability service at St. Michael's House had led to the Saturday closure of their swimming pool (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4553/13]
View answerWritten answers
As the Deputy's question relates to service matters, I have arranged for the question to be referred to the Health Service Executive for direct reply to the Deputy.