Written Answers Nos. 267-284
267. Deputy Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin asked the Minister for Health if 5,200 nursing posts, that is 13.5% of the total, have been cut from the health service since 2010; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16401/15]
View answerThe HSE introduced an embargo on recruitment in 2007. This was followed by the public sector wide moratorium on recruitment in 2008 given the need to reduce public service numbers and maximise savings in the public service as a result of the downturn in the economy. Notwithstanding this the HSE has had the capacity to recruit where it is necessary to deliver front-line services. It is important to note that in fact nursing numbers have increased by over 850 in the past 15 months.
The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform announced in budget 2015 that he intended to delegate greater autonomy to Departments and Agencies to manage their own staffing levels within allocated pay frameworks. This change allows for further recruitment flexibility, for example where it is determined that offering permanent contracts can achieve more economical service delivery than agency usage.
The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform has advised that the HSE and Department of Health are required to submit a 2015 Pay and Numbers Strategy to give effect to this decision. This Strategy is currently being finalised.
I have asked the HSE to respond to the Deputy directly on the specific numbers. 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.
268. Deputy Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin asked the Minister for Health if 3,000 children are waiting more than 12 months to access the speech and language therapy that they have been assessed as requiring; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16402/15]
View answerThe 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. 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.
269. Deputy Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin asked the Minister for Health the number of children who continue to be admitted to adult wards up to the end of March 2015; the number who were placed in adult wards; the number of children and adolescents waiting to be seen by the child and adolescent mental health services; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16403/15]
View answerAs this is a service issue this question has been sent to the HSE 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.
270. Deputy James Bannon asked the Minister for Health the reason for the delay in issuing a medical card in respect of a person (details supplied) in County Longford; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16411/15]
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.
271. Deputy Barry Cowen asked the Minister for Health if he will provide an update on the case of a person (details supplied) in County Offaly; and when the person will receive an appointment with the consultant respiratory surgeon in the Mater Hospital, Dublin 7. [16419/15]
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.
The 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 should take the matter up with the consultant and the hospital involved. 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.
272. Deputy Seán Kenny asked the Minister for Health his plans to improve neurology services and facilities within the public health service; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16422/15]
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 my officials will follow the matter up.
273. Deputy Sandra McLellan asked the Minister for Health if she will ensure that funding is provided to a foundation (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16425/15]
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, she can contact my Private Office and they will follow the matter up with the HSE.
274. Deputy Colm Keaveney asked the Minister for Health when a person (details supplied) in County Galway will receive an urgent appointment for heart surgery; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16427/15]
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.
The National Waiting List Management Policy, A standardised approach to managing scheduled care treatment for in-patient, day case and planned procedures, January 2014, has been developed to ensure that all administrative, managerial and clinical staff follow an agreed national minimum standard for the management and administration of waiting lists for scheduled care. This policy, which has been adopted by the Health Service Executive, sets out the processes that hospitals are to implement to manage waiting lists.
In relation to the particular query raised, 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 my officials will follow the matter up.
275. Deputy Colm Keaveney asked the Minister for Health when a person (details supplied) in County Galway will receive an appointment for an awaited procedure as the person is on the waiting list for five years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16431/15]
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.
276. Deputy Terence Flanagan asked the Minister for Health the position regarding hygiene in hospitals (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16435/15]
View answerPatient safety is a priority for my Department and the delivery of Ireland's health services. Increased emphasis on patient safety in policy reform, legislative changes and development of standards of care driven by quality improvement initiatives underpin the Health Service Executive's (HSE's) Service Planning process and specific measures focused on quality and patient safety including Healthcare Associated Infections (HCAIs) in both the hospital and community setting.
The HSE has implemented a number of national initiatives in the control and prevention of HCAIs over many years including, SARI 2001-2010 (The Strategy for the Control of Antimicrobial Resistance in Ireland) and the HSE's "Say No to Infection" which focused on both HCAIs and Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) launched in 2007.
The most recent HSE Healthcare Associated Infection (HCAI) and Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Clinical Programme was established in 2010. The Programme, based within the HSE Quality Improvement Division, has targeted three key areas relating to HCAI/AMR.
1. Hand Hygiene: achievements include provision of online hand hygiene resources (www.hse.ie/go/handhygiene), updating of national hand hygiene guidelines, national specification for alcohol hand gel, and a monthly Key Performance Indicator (KPI) on hand hygiene training for hospital staff.
2. Prudent use of antibiotics ('Antimicrobial Stewardship'): achievements include development of public website for self-care for common infections (www.undertheweather.ie ), guidelines for antibiotic use in primary care and residential care settings (www.antibioticprescribing.ie), annual promotional and educational activities around European Antibiotic Awareness Day, public information campaigns (www.hse.ie/antibiotics),collaborative project to promote safe use of gentamicin (www.rcpi.ie), and antibiotic care bundles ('Start smart then focus' and 'Right drug, right time, right duration').
3. Medical device-related infections: achievements include update of 2009 National Guidelines for the prevention of intravascular (IV) catheter-associated infection, and guidelines and care bundles for prevention of urinary catheter-associated infections (www.hpsc.ie).
Other activities and achievements include the introduction of new monthly indicators (hospital acquired S. aureus bloodstream infection and C. difficile infection), guidelines for prevention and control of multiple drug-resistant organisms (www.hpsc.ie), and development of infection prevention and control guidelines for primary care (www.icgp.ie).
In addition, the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) carries out unannounced inspections in public acute hospitals to monitor compliance with the National Standards for the Prevention and Control of Healthcare Associated Infections. It focuses in particular on Standard 3: Environmental and Facilities Management and Standard 6: Hand Hygiene with the purpose of assessing hygiene as experienced by patients at any given time. Other Standards may be observed and reported on if concerns arise during the course of an inspection. The monitoring inspections commenced in November 2012 and over 100 inspections, including some re-inspections have been carried out to date. Hospitals must revise and amend their Quality Improvement Plans (QIPs) after monitoring to prioritise the improvements necessary to fully comply with the Standards; the Authority continues to monitor the hospital's progress in implementing its recommendations.
I am advised by the HSE that Hospital Groups will continue to achieve full implementation of the local Quality Improvement Plans developed following each HIQA visit which will be managed and monitored to ensure hospitals achieve and sustain high standards of hygiene and improved compliance with infection prevention and control standards.
To further support patient care HIQA is also monitoring compliance against the National Standards for Safer, Better Healthcare with a particular focus in 2015 on antimicrobial stewardship and nutrition and hydration of patients.
277. Deputy Róisín Shortall asked the Minister for Health the number of early intervention teams in each local health office; the waiting time for assessment in each team; and the numbers on the waiting lists in each case. [16444/15]
View answerAll Health Service Executive areas have significant early intervention services in place for children with disabilities aged zero to eighteen years. These are provided directly by the HSE or by voluntary service providers funded by the HSE. At the same time, the HSE has recognised the need to improve the way in which both early intervention services and services for school-aged children are delivered. It is currently engaged in a major reconfiguration of its existing therapy resources for children with disabilities into multi-disciplinary geographically based teams, as part of its National Programme on Progressing Disability Services for Children and Young People (0-18 years). The key objective of this Programme is to bring about equity of access to disability services and consistency of service delivery, with a clear pathway for children with disabilities and their families to services, regardless of where they live, where these children go to school or the nature of the individual child’s difficulties.
The Programme is a key priority for the HSE’s Social Care Directorate. An additional €4m was allocated in 2014 to assist in implementing the Programme, equating to approximately 80 additional therapy posts. Further investment of €4m will be made in 2015 (equating to €6m in a full year). Within this context, I have asked the Executive to provide the Deputy with the detailed operational information that she has requested. 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.
278. Deputy Pat Deering asked the Minister for Health when an appointment in Beaumont Hospital, Dublin 9, will be arranged in respect of a person (details supplied) in County Carlow, who had tests completed on 1 April 2015. [16446/15]
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.
The 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 should take the matter up with the consultant and the hospital involved. 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.
279. Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn asked the Minister for Health when staff at Letterkenny General Hospital, County Donegal, who lost expensive personal belongings in the flooding at the hospital in July 2013 and who have officially submitted compensation claims, will be compensated. [16453/15]
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 my officials will follow the matter up with them.
280. Deputy Brendan Ryan asked the Minister for Health if he will examine the case of a person (details supplied) in County Dublin; if he will request, in view of the severity of the illness, that a district nurse visit this person with a view to beginning the provision of home help hours to the person as soon as possible. [16456/15]
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.
281. Deputy Sean Fleming asked the Minister for Health the role of the ambulance service in transferring elderly sick patients from nursing homes to appointments in outpatient departments in local hospitals; the situation and the arrangements in place for elderly persons who have no transport and are only capable, due to their medical conditions, of being transported in an ambulance to enable them travel to a hospital; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16468/15]
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 my officials will follow the matter up.
282. Deputy Sean Fleming asked the Minister for Health when an operation will be carried out in respect of a child (details supplied) in County Kilkenny who requires surgery for scoliosis (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16470/15]
View answerSpinal conditions, including scoliosis, in children and young people are predominantly managed at Our Lady's Children’s Hospital, Crumlin (OLCHC). It is acknowledged by all that waiting times for surgery are unacceptable and the HSE, Children's Hospital Group and OLCHC are actively working to address them as quickly as possible and exploring all short, medium- and long-term options to increase capacity. I am pleased to say that funding was allocated in the 2015 Service Plan to facilitate the appointment of an orthopaedic surgeon, anaesthetist and support staff to maximise utilisation of available theatre sessions in OLCHC, and recruitment is in progress.
Under 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 particular patient query raised by you, 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 my officials will follow the matter up with them.
283. Deputy Alan Farrell asked the Minister for Health the progress in the development of the national children's hospital on the Saint James's Hospital site in Dublin 8; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16472/15]
View answerThe National Paediatric Hospital Development Board is the statutory body responsible for planning, designing, building and equipping the new children's hospital. The new hospital will be co-located with St James's Hospital, and ultimately tri-located with a maternity hospital to be developed on campus. In addition to the main hospital, the project includes two satellite centres at the campuses of Tallaght and Connolly Hospitals.
The Project Brief, which sets out details of the specialties to be provided and the planned accommodation, has been approved. 384 in-patient beds are planned, all in single en-suite rooms with in-room parent accommodation. There will also be 85 daycare beds and 14 theatres, including three hybrid theatres to facilitate access to imaging during surgery, all in the main hospital. There will be 111 outpatient consulting examination rooms across the main hospital and the two satellite centres, as well as ED and urgent care facilities.
Site surveys and investigations have been completed, decant plans are being progressed, and a design team is working on detailed design development with planning submission to be made in mid-2015. Subject to planning, work is scheduled to commence at the main site at St. James's, and at satellite centre sites at Connolly and Tallaght, in January 2016.
284. Deputy Fergus O'Dowd asked the Minister for Health the number and percentage of persons on medical cards in counties Louth and Meath; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16477/15]
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.
