Written Answers Nos. 102-107
102. Deputy Billy Kelleher asked the Minister for Health when a person (details supplied) in Dublin 6W will have a cervical spine operation at Beaumont Hospital, Dublin 9; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15867/15]
View answerUnder the Health Act 2004, the Health Service Executive (HSE) is required to manage and deliver, or arrange to be delivered on its behalf, health and personal social services. Section 6 of the HSE Governance Act 2013 bars the Minister for Health from directing the HSE to provide a treatment or a personal service to any individual or to confer eligibility on any individual. In relation to the specific case raised, 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 my officials will follow the matter up.
103. Deputy Ruth Coppinger asked the Minister for Health if he will restore the mobility allowance to a person (details supplied) in Dublin 15. [15870/15]
View answerConscious of the reports of the Ombudsman regarding the legal status of the Mobility Allowance Scheme and the Motorised Transport Grant, in the context of the Equal Status Acts, the Government decided to close both schemes in February 2013. However monthly payments have continued to be made by the Health Service Executive (HSE) to the 4,700 people who were in receipt of the Mobility Allowance at the time that the scheme closed, in the interests of preventing hardship. The Department has instructed the HSE that the cohort of people in receipt of the monthly payment should continue to be paid by the HSE at their existing rate until further instruction issues from the Department of Health, on foot of any further decisions the Government may take.
As the Deputy's question relates to service matters, I have arranged for the question to be referred to the HSE for investigation of the matter raised and for a direct reply to the Deputy. If the Deputy has not received a reply from the HSE within 15 working days, she can contact my Private Office and they will follow the matter up with the HSE.
104. Deputy John McGuinness asked the Minister for Health when funding will become available for the fair deal scheme application in respect of a person (details supplied) in County Kilkenny; and if he will expedite the matter. [15872/15]
View answerAs this is a service matter it has been referred to the Health Service Executive for direct reply. 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.
105. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Health the reason a person (details supplied) in County Kildare was issued with a medical card valid only until July 2015 when his previous medical card was valid until June 2016; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15896/15]
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.
106. Deputy Billy Kelleher asked the Minister for Health if he will provide, in tabular form, the number of medical detox beds available, in each year from 2008 to 2015, for rehabilitating drug addicts; the location of these beds; the cost of each bed; the waiting time to access one of these beds; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15900/15]
View answerAs this is a service matter, it has been referred to the Health Service Executive for attention and direct reply to the Deputy.
If the Deputy has not received a reply from the HSE within 15 working days he should contact my Private Office and they will follow up the matter with them.
107. Deputy Tony McLoughlin asked the Minister for Health in view of the recent announcement of the Health Service Executive's commitments to the new primary percutaneous coronary intervention service at Altnagelvin Area Hospital in Derry, which will cater for patients from north Donegal, his views on whether the upgrading of cardiac services, chiefly a cardiac catheterisation laboratory at Sligo Regional Hospital, is an important next step towards improving cardiac care in Sligo, Leitrim, west Cavan, south Donegal, north Mayo and north Roscommon; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15906/15]
View answerI was delighted to have the opportunity to visit the State-of-the-Art cardiac catheterisation lab at Altnagelvin last Wednesday. Cardiac catheterisation labs can be of enormous benefit to patients having a particular form of heart attack, known as ST-elevated myocardial infarction, or SteMI, allowing them to bypass the Emergency Department and go straight to the lab for primary percutaneous coronary intervention (pPCI).
The primary PCI service at Altnagelvin has already benefited patients in Northern Ireland. I am delighted that this service will be available to the wider population of the North West as soon as the resources which have been agreed are in place. As well as benefitting patients, this development brings with it an opportunity to develop the research, teaching and training potential which capitalises on the current expertise that exists within the region. Cross-border cooperation on health makes sense, allowing us to pool our resources to provide better health care for all our citizens.
The decision of appropriate options for a fixed elective cardiac catheterisation laboratory will be deferred until the service in Altnagelvin is fully operational and its impact on service requirements in the North West is assessed. In the interim, the current mobile cath lab services will continue to operate.
