Written Answers Nos. 364-378
365. Deputy Pat Deering asked the Minister for Health the number of nursing home clients availing of the fair deal scheme system at present; and his plans to reduce the current waiting time of approximately 15 weeks. [42925/14]
View answerIn August 2014 (latest figures available), the Scheme provided financial support for 22,038 people in long term residential places. The current wait time on the placement list is at about 15 weeks which is of course a matter of concern for me, and my Department and the HSE are working to ensure that the resources that are available are deployed in the most effective way possible and deliver the best outcomes for older people. This will require an integrated approach across community, residential and other service areas.
The HSE controls the release of funding to manage the funds that are available across the course of the year. Funding is released to approved applicants according to their place, in order of their approval date, on the National Placement List. Over the course of the year to date, demand for funding has exceeded what could be released and the National Placement List has grown as a result.
In July this year, the HSE allocated €5m for an initiative to improve access to appropriate care for older people. To date this has funded over 300 transitional care beds for patients in acute hospitals who are on the NHSS National Placement List and over 200 home care packages to assist patients in the acute hospitals who require a home care package to be discharged.
In Budget 2015 a further €25 million has been allocated to alleviate the problem of delayed discharges. This will be applied across community and residential services to improve Placement List waiting times and to relieve the pressure in acute hospitals resulting from beds being taken up by those who no longer require acute care.
The Review of the Nursing Homes Support Scheme, which will be completed in the coming months, will include consideration of the future balance between community and residential services and the longer-term sustainability of the Scheme.
366. Deputy Dominic Hannigan asked the Minister for Health the position regarding the drugs budget for the Department next year; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42943/14]
View answerAs published in the Estimates for Public Services 2015, the budget for the Drugs Initiative of my Department will remain at the same level in 2015 as 2014 at a total of €7.381m.
367. Deputy Dominic Hannigan asked the Minister for Health if his Department has given any consideration to the appointment of a junior Minister with sole responsibility for drug policy; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42944/14]
View answerAs Minister for Health, I have overall responsibility for the implementation of the National Drugs Strategy 2009-2016. The overall strategic objective for the National Drugs Strategy is to continue to tackle the harm caused to individuals and society by the misuse of drugs through a concerted focus on the five pillars of supply, reduction, prevention, treatment, rehabilitation and research. In line with the Programme for Government, I am committed to delivering on the objectives of the Strategy. The Oversight Forum on Drugs which I chair, is responsible for the high-level monitoring of progress being achieved across the Strategy in the context of the aims, priorities, actions and key performance indicators set out therein.
In addition, I am responsible for implementing the recommendations of the Steering Group Report on a National Substance Misuse Strategy 2012, in accordance with last October's Government decision.
368. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Minister for Health when a decision on a medical card application will issue to a person ( details supplied) in County Donegal; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42946/14]
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.
369. Deputy Brian Stanley asked the Minister for Health the number of persons on the orthodontic waiting list in County Laois. [42952/14]
View answerThe HSE provides orthodontic treatment to those who have been assessed and referred for treatment before their 16th birthday. It should be noted that the nature of orthodontic care means that immediate treatment is not always desirable. It is estimated that in up to 5% of cases it is necessary to wait for further growth to take place before treatment commences. Patients are assessed by the HSE Orthodontic Service under the modified Index of Treatment Need. Patients with the greatest level of need are provided with treatment by the HSE. Information on waiting times is collated by the HSE by region. The most recent information on waiting lists relates to the third quarter of 2014. In the Dublin Mid Leinster region, which includes Co. Laois, there were 1,861 on the assessment waiting list and 4,531 on the treatment waiting list.
370. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Health his plans to regulate the counselling and psychotherapy sector; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42969/14]
View answer377. Deputy Finian McGrath asked the Minister for Health if he will support the 3,000 members of the Irish Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy in their efforts for proper regulation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43020/14]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 370 and 377 together.
I hope to bring counsellors and psychotherapists within the ambit of the Health and Social Care Professionals Act 2005 next year. The first stage in the designation process, involving a detailed consultation with the Health and Social Care Professionals Council, is now underway.
The Health and Social Care Professionals Council and the registration boards established under that Act are responsible for protecting the public by promoting high standards of professional conduct and professional education, training and competence amongst the professions designated under the Act. The 12 professions currently designated under the Act are clinical biochemists, dietitians, medical scientists, occupational therapists, orthoptists, physiotherapists, podiatrists, psychologists, radiographers, social care workers, social workers and speech and language therapists.
Psychotherapists and counsellors are not currently regulated under the Health and Social Care Professionals Act 2005. However, the Act provides that the Minister for Health may, under section 4(2), designate a health and social care profession not already designated if he or she considers that it is in the public interest to do so and if specified criteria have been met.
My predecessor, Deputy James Reilly, wrote to the The Health and Social Care Professionals Council in May of this year advising it of his intention, in the public interest, to designate by regulation the profession or professions of counsellor and psychotherapist under the Act. The Act provides that the Minister for Health is obliged to consult with the Council in the first instance concerning a proposed designation and to give interested persons, organisations and bodies an opportunity to make representations to the Minister. The Council has been asked to advise on a number of issues concerning the proposed designation and requested that it take into consideration the recently published report of Quality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI) on the academic standards necessary for the accreditation of courses in Counselling and Psychotherapy. This is an essential element as it will inform, for the purpose of registration, the assessment by the registration board, when established, of the qualifications of those currently in practice. This is the first stage in the consultation process under the Act and I expect to receive the Council's report in the coming weeks. I will proceed to the next stage which will involve a much wider consultation when I have fully considered the Council's report. While a number of issues remain to be clarified including decisions on whether one or two professions are to be regulated, on the title or titles of the profession or professions, and on the minimum qualifications to be required of applicants for registration, I intend to progress the regulation of counsellors and psychotherapists as a priority. I hope to be in a position to make the necessary designation regulations next year. I will then seek expressions of interest from qualified persons available for appointment to the new registration board that will be established to regulate counsellors and psychotherapists.
371. Deputy Seán Kyne asked the Minister for Health the reimbursement price which is applied to the medicine betaferon which is used to treat multiple sclerosis and reimbursed under the high tech medicines scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42973/14]
View answerThe HSE has statutory responsibility for decisions on pricing and reimbursement of medicinal products under the community drug schemes in accordance with the provisions of the Health (Pricing and Supply of Medical Goods) Act 2013, therefore the matter has been referred to the HSE for attention and 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.
372. Deputy Michael McCarthy asked the Minister for Health further to Parliamentary Question No. 129 of 2 October 2014 when a reply will issue; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42978/14]
View answerMy Department has made inquiries of the Health Service Executive in relation to this matter. I understand that a reply issued from the HSE to the Deputy on 15th October 2014.
373. Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn asked the Minister for Health the reason divisional budgets do not exist across the different board/ trust areas; the way managers of each board/ trust area may allocate their funds appropriately across different treatment areas that is cancer, mental health and so on [42984/14]
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.
374. Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn asked the Minister for Health his views on whether 6.1% of the overall health budget is adequate for mental health as the percentage health spend in England, Wales and Scotland in 2012-2013 was between 9.1% and 11.9% and in the North of Ireland was 6.9%. [42985/14]
View answerIn line with the Programme for Government, my priority as Minister has been to modernise our mental health services, notwithstanding the severe resource constraints overall in recent years, and to prioritise new resources to underpin implementation of A Vision for Change. In that regard, the Government made available in the region of €766m to the HSE for mental health services in the current year. Taking account of the €35m announced in the recent Budget, and including specific funding allocations since 2012, a total of €125m additional ring-fenced funding has been provided by the Government for mental health since coming into office. This funding has been allocated towards upwards of 1,100 new staff for the ongoing re-configuration of community mental health teams, in particular, and to underpin the development of a recovery-focussed and community-centred service. Bearing in mind the many competing demands on both the wider Health budget and Exchequer funding generally, this represents a substantial ongoing commitment to our mental health services.
Historically, funding for the mental health services constituted a high proportion of overall health spend in Ireland. In part, this reflected the traditional emphasis on an institutional model of service delivery with a clinical care focus. While funding may have been a higher than the recent percentage of 6.1% quoted by the Deputy, much of this funding would have been spent on what was considered a staff-intensive and relatively expensive model of service. In addition, historically other areas of the overall health budget in Ireland may not have received an adequate level of funding appropriate to a modern community-focussed health service. This has been rectified in recent times in, for example, the primary and community care areas, whose development is also important for users of social care services such as people with mental health issues.
In line with A Vision for Change, the HSE mental health service is now moving towards a more person-centred recovery model of care, with an increasing focus on community delivery. This model of service is widely agreed to be more focussed on the needs of the service user in the first instance. It is also considered to be more cost effective and aims for a planned greater integration of services across the primary and community care sectors over time. Therefore, while every effort will be made to maximise resources for mental health, the promotion and resourcing of positive mental health extends on a much broader range of HSE service areas. In this context, a certain degree of caution is recommended when comparing mental health spent with that in other countries as the structure and funding of wider health and personal social care systems can vary significantly from country to country.
375. Deputy Terence Flanagan asked the Minister for Health his views on correspondence (details supplied) regarding funding for the visually impaired; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42991/14]
View answerI am informed that a number of service providers have raised concerns with the Health Service Executive (HSE) on the additional costs arising in meeting the HIQA regulations. I understand that the HSE is gathering information on a national basis in relation to the costs of meeting the National Standards for Residential Services for Children and Adults with Disabilities and that the matter will come under consideration in the context of framing the HSE's estimates for its 2015 Service Plan requirements.
As the specific details supplied by the Deputy relates to service matters, I have arranged for the question to be referred to the HSE for a direct reply to the Deputy. If the Deputy has not received a reply from the HSE within 15 working days, he can contact my Private Office and they will follow the matter up with the HSE.
376. Deputy Finian McGrath asked the Minister for Health if he will support a matter (details supplied) in relation to a paediatric home nursing care; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43019/14]
View answerThe Jack and Jill Foundation is part of a range of services provided to families of children with life limiting conditions. Many children availing of services provided by the Jack and Jill also avail of other specialist hospital based and community based health supports and disability services. The Health Service Executive's Disability Services provide annual funding to the Jack and Jill Foundation under Section 39 of the Health Act 2004. In 2014, the Foundation received funding of just over €630,000 which is approximately 20% of Jack and Jill's overall annual expenditure.
The Jack and Jill Foundation offers a care package to families in respect of palliative and respite care nursing. This funding is provided to the family following the assessment by a member of their home nursing care team.
There are a number of children in the Health Service Executive (HSE) North Dublin region that have reached the age of 4 and need now to move on from the Jack and Jill Foundation. The HSE is working with the families to identify the needs of these families in terms of resources required and availability of qualified, experienced staff. The children and their families will continue to receive support from the Jack and Jill Foundation pending the outcome of HSE enquiries. The HSE will contact the families to make them aware of the situation.
378. Deputy Finian McGrath asked the Minister for Health the position regarding services and supports in respect of a person (details supplied) in County Meath; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43021/14]
View answerAs the Deputy's question relates to service matters, I have arranged for the question to be referred to the Health Service Executive (HSE) for direct reply to the Deputy. If the Deputy has not received a reply from the HSE within 15 working days, he can contact my Private Office and they will follow the matter up with the HSE.
