Written Answers Nos 597-614
597. Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn asked the Minister for Health if his attention has been drawn to the considerable inconvenience and stress caused to the parents of children with arthritis living throughout the State by the small number of paediatric rheumatologists here and the failure by the Health Service Executive to ensure that they provide regular mobile clinics at regional hospitals [41033/14]
View answerAs this is a service matter, I have asked the HSE to respond directly to the Deputy.
If you have not received a reply within 15 working days, please contact my Private Office and they will follow up the matter with them.
598. Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn asked the Minister for Health if a third rheumatology consultant will be appointed by the Health Service Executive to service those suffering from arthritis in the north west region; if a person specialising in juvenile or paediatric rheumatology will be appointed to support parents of children with arthritis in the region [41034/14]
View answerAs this is a service matter, I have asked the HSE to respond directly to the Deputy.
If you have not received a reply from the HSE within 15 working days please contact my Private Office and they will follow up the matter with them.
599. Deputy Ruth Coppinger asked the Minister for Health the number of operating theatres available for use in a hospital (details supplied) in Dublin 11; the number of operating theatres that are in use; the number of surgeons and other medical professionals working in the theatres; the amount of spare capacity in the operating theatres; and the numbers of patients on the waiting list for surgery at this hospital [41040/14]
View answerAs this is a service matter, I have asked the HSE to respond directly to the Deputy.
If you have not received a reply from the HSE within 15 working days please contact my Private Office and they will follow up the matter with them.
601. Deputy Michael McCarthy asked the Minister for Health the options regarding the case of a person (details supplied) in County Louth who is currently awaiting a heart transplant in a hospital since August 2014; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41071/14]
View answerI have been informed by the HSE that the patient in question is currently under the care of Wythenshawe Hospital in Manchester. It is possible for the patient in question to be listed for transplant in Ireland subject to being safely transferred to the Mater Misericordiae University Hospital. The Mater Misericordiae University Hospital has been in communication with the Wythenshawe Hospital.
602. Deputy Finian McGrath asked the Minister for Health the position regarding home help and section 39 (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41078/14]
View answerProviders of Home Care services are monitored through Service Level Agreements with the HSE. They are required to provide a prescribed range of information in relation to the services they provide, and are supervised through regular local operational meetings and reviews of clients' care plans.
The demand for home care services has increased in recent years. There is an obvious need to provide high quality and flexible services that not only best meets the needs of individual clients, but also reduces pressures elsewhere on the wider health system such as acute hospitals or on long term residential care. The HSE is progressing a range of measures to improve its home care provision overall, to standardise services nationally and to promote access, quality, and safety.
As the Deputy's question relates to the employment of home helps employed in Section 39 agencies, I have asked the HSE to respond directly on this matter. If you have not received a reply from the HSE within 15 working days please contact my Private Office and they will follow up the matter with them.
603. Deputy Barry Cowen asked the Minister for Health the position regarding a case in respect of a person (details supplied) in County Offaly; and when the person concerned may expect an appointment. [41087/14]
View answerIn relation to the particular patient query raised by the Deputy, as this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to him directly.
If you have not received a reply from the HSE within 15 working days please contact my Private Office and they will follow up the matter with them.
604. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Health the number of instances recorded of the various forms of cancer on a county basis throughout the country in each of the past ten years to date in 2014, the extent to which particular form of the disease appears to be on the increase or decline; if particular action is required on foot of the figures; the extent to which survival rates for each form of the disease has been identified; if a particular region has been affected to a greater or lesser extent in terms of both infection, diagnosis, recovery and survival; if areas of the country affected by fallout from Chernobyl have been identified in any findings; the extent of any particular action required arising therefrom; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41088/14]
View answerThe National Cancer Registry of Ireland (NCRI) publishes data on cancer incidence, treatment and survival in Ireland. This data can be accessed on the NCRI website (http://www.ncri.ie/client/choose-stats). Information on this site includes incidence of all invasive cancers in Ireland by county, 1994 - 2011. While survival figures are not available county-level, the survival data published by the NCRI shows the trend of ongoing improvements in overall cancer survival and in respect of individual cancer types. Regional variations in survival are not statistically significant. Definitive data on the consequences from Chernobyl are not available.
Long-term survival from cancer has greatly increased in the past decade. Survival at five years from diagnosis has gone from 42% in 1994-1999 to 60% in 2005-2009 in men and from 52% to 62% over the same period in women. Breast cancer five year survival is estimated at 84.9% for people diagnosed between 2005-2009, up from 75.1% for people diagnosed between 1994-1999.
The World Health Organisation estimates that more than 30% of cancer deaths could be prevented by modifying or avoiding key risk factors. Tobacco use is considered to be the single most important risk factor for cancer.
My Department and the HSE are promoting healthier lifestyles to reduce the risk of many chronic diseases, including cancer. Policies include the achievement of aTobacco Free Ireland by 2025.
In line with A Strategy for Cancer Control in Ireland (2006), the National Cancer Control Programme (NCCP) was established to reorganise cancer services and to achieve better outcomes for patients. My Department and the NCCP work to reduce the incidence of cancer and cancer deaths, through initiatives in areas such as prevention, early detection, diagnosis and treatment. Targeted programmes, such as cancer screening and the HPV vaccine, also aim to reduce the risk of cancer.
605. Deputy Billy Kelleher asked the Minister for Health if a person (details supplied) in Dublin 22 will have their chiropody treatment visits increased to six visits per year. [41096/14]
View answerCommunity chiropody is a discretionary service, which the Health Service Executive endeavours to provide on a prioritised basis within the context of available resources and competing needs for such resources. The HSE has been asked to examine the query raised by the Deputy and to reply to him as soon as possible. If you have not received a reply from the HSE within 15 working days please contact my Private Office and they will follow up the matter with them.
606. Deputy Billy Kelleher asked the Minister for Health the position regarding the roll out of DNA screening of women aged between 30 and 49 as recommended by the Health Information and Quality Authority in their report published in spring 2013; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41104/14]
View answer607. Deputy Billy Kelleher asked the Minister for Health the achievements-recommendations of the working group that was established to agree appropriate structures and best practice in the identification and management of those with hereditary cancer mutations; if these recommendations have been implemented; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41105/14]
View answer608. Deputy Billy Kelleher asked the Minister for Health if the National Centre for Medical Genetics at Crumlin Hospital have been provided with the necessary capital and updated equipment necessary to carry out testing for BRCA and mutations of same; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41106/14]
View answer611. Deputy Billy Kelleher asked the Minister for Health if BreastCheck will be extended to the siblings of diagnosed BRCA carriers; when will this be rolled out; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41113/14]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 606 to 608, inclusive, and 611 together.
The National Cancer Control Programme (NCCP) has nine symptomatic breast cancer clinics operating in eight designated cancer centres, with a satellite unit in Letterkenny. When GPs refer women under the age of 50 who are deemed to be at high risk of breast cancer they are offered surveillance, as suggested in the HIQA Report on Breast Cancer Surveillance. That HIQA report outlined the potential benefits of a standardised surveillance programme for women aged less than 50 years who are also at high risk of breast cancer due to a genetic predisposition, or to a strong family history or other factors. There is no recommendation that well women under the age of 50 are routinely screened for BRCA 1 or 2 mutations. The National Centre for Medical Genetics (NCMG) in Crumlin Hospital and the NCCP jointly offer assessment and testing of well women who are direct relatives of patients with cancer who have been found to have BRCA 1 or 2 mutations.
A national hereditary cancer programme has been established by the NCCP, in collaboration with the NCMG, to improve access to assessment and genetic testing for those patients and their families whose cancer may have a hereditary component. The programme focuses on hereditary breast, ovarian and bowel cancer, as well as more rare hereditary cancer predisposition syndromes.
Patients can be seen at the NCMG in Crumlin, or at their outreach clinics in Cork and Galway. Further investment was made by the NCCP and the NCMG with the establishment in 2012 of clinics in St James's and the Mater Hospitals.
In the first half of 2013, over five hundred cancer patients, or their well relatives, have had genetic testing carried out in relation to their hereditary cancer risk. Approximately the same number of people received a cancer genetics opinion, without requiring genetic testing. There has been a 56% increase in testing to date this year, jointly funded by the NCMG and NCCP. Initial diagnostic testing for patients with breast or ovarian cancer is sent to a laboratory in the UK. Once a specific mutation has been identified, subsequent testing is carried out in Crumlin.
The NCCP and the NCMG will continue to collaborate via the hereditary cancer programme to ensure genetic testing is carried out in the most cost effective and clinically appropriate manner. Hereditary Cancer is a priority area for development and a new NCCP consultant post has been approved this year. Recruitment to that post is in progress.
609. Deputy Thomas P. Broughan asked the Minister for Health if he will provide in tabular form the number of persons waiting for orthopaedic surgery and, in particular, knee surgery at hospitals (details supplied); and the number of persons waiting for these surgeries between zero and six months, between six months and one year and for periods of over one year [41108/14]
View answerAs this is a service matter, I have asked the HSE to respond to you directly. If you have not received a reply from the HSE within 15 working days please contact my Private Office and they will follow up the matter with them.
610. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Health when a person (details supplied) in County Donegal will receive an appointment in a hospital; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41112/14]
View answerThe scheduling of appointments for patients is a matter for the hospital to which the patient has been referred. Should a 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. As this is a service matter, I have asked the HSE to respond to you directly. If you have not received a reply from the HSE within 15 working days please contact my Private Office and they will follow up the matter with them.
612. Deputy Stephen S. Donnelly asked the Minister for Health further to Parliamentary Question No. 351 of 7 October 2014, if his attention has been drawn to the Health Service Executive Dublin mid-Leinster region refusing to provide home birth support to 25 women who were to be provided with this service; his role when the HSE refuses to provide health care services; if he will request the HSE to provide this service; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41114/14]
View answer720. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for Health the reason the 25 women, registered with a self-employed community midwife (details supplied) have not had the option of a domiciliary midwifery care package being bought for them under the national purchase treatment scheme. [41633/14]
View answer736. Deputy John McGuinness asked the Minister for Health the reason indemnity insurance was withdrawn in respect of a person (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41793/14]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 612, 720 and 736 together.
This matter is sub-judice and I am therefore restricted in the response I can give to your questions.
I understand from the HSE that Ms Cannings' indemnity has been suspended temporarily due to specific and serious concerns expressed by other clinical staff about patient safety. Indemnity is not removed from a professional without concern. Safe guidelines and practices are in place to protect mothers and babies.
I have been informed by the HSE that there are 13 mothers-to-be contracted for home births with Ms Canning at the time of her suspension. To date, five mothers have delivered of their babies. There are currently eight mothers-to-be with the furthest delivery date March, 2015. Any mothers-to-be other than the 13, from Ms Cannings clients, are not contracted with the HSE for home births at the time of the suspension. The HSE have informed me that any mother wishing to access the home birthing service can apply to the designated midwifery officers for assessment of criteria.
I am aware that prior to this suspension, there were 18 Self employed Community Midwives contracted by the HSE to perform Home births. The maternity review will explore the choice of maternity services available and required by mothers in Ireland.
613. Deputy Jack Wall asked the Minister for Health the position regarding an application for a medical card in respect of a person (details supplied) in County Kildare; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41165/14]
View answerThe Health Service Executive has been asked to examine this matter and to reply to the Deputy as soon as possible.
The Health Service Executive operates the General Medical Services scheme, which includes medical cards and GP visit cards, under the Health Act 1970, as amended. It has established a dedicated contact service for members of the Oireachtas specifically for queries relating to medical cards and GP visit cards, which the Deputy may wish to use for an earlier response. Contact information has issued to Oireachtas members.
If the Deputy has not received a reply from the HSE within 15 working days, please contact my Private Office who will follow up the matter with them.
614. Deputy Jack Wall asked the Minister for Health when a child (details supplied) in County Kildare will receive an occupational therapy intervention; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41168/14]
View answerAs the particular issue raised by the Deputy relates to an individual case, this is a service matter for the Health Service Executive. Accordingly, I have arranged for the question to be referred to the HSE for direct reply to the Deputy. If you have not received a reply from the HSE within 15 working days please contact my Private Office and they will follow up the matter with them.
