Robert Troy
Question:465. Deputy Robert Troy asked the Minister for Health the number of doctors and nurses employed by Mullingar hospital in County Westmeath; the overall floor area utilised by the hospital. [29641/15]
View answerHospital Staff Data
Questions (465)
Written answers
I have asked the HSE to respond to the Deputy directly on the 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.
Medical Card Applications
Questions (466)
Robert Troy
Question:466. Deputy Robert Troy asked the Minister for Health if he will expedite a medical card application for a person (details supplied). [29649/15]
View answerWritten answers
The 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.
Medical Card Applications
Questions (467)
Robert Troy
Question:467. Deputy Robert Troy asked the Minister for Health if he will expedite a medical card application for a person (details supplied). [29650/15]
View answerWritten answers
The 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.
Medical Card Applications
Questions (468)
Robert Troy
Question:468. Deputy Robert Troy asked the Minister for Health if he will expedite a medical card application for a person (details supplied). [29651/15]
View answerWritten answers
The 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.
Medical Card Applications
Questions (469)
Robert Troy
Question:469. Deputy Robert Troy asked the Minister for Health if he will expedite a medical card application for a person (details supplied). [29652/15]
View answerWritten answers
The 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.
Medical Card Applications
Questions (470)
Robert Troy
Question:470. Deputy Robert Troy asked the Minister for Health if he will expedite a medical card application for a person (details supplied). [29653/15]
View answerWritten answers
The 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.
Medical Card Applications
Questions (471)
Robert Troy
Question:471. Deputy Robert Troy asked the Minister for Health if he will expedite a medical card application for a person (details supplied). [29654/15]
View answerWritten answers
The 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.
Medical Card Applications
Questions (472)
Robert Troy
Question:472. Deputy Robert Troy asked the Minister for Health if he will expedite a medical card application for a person (details supplied). [29655/15]
View answerWritten answers
The 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.
Medical Card Applications
Questions (473)
Robert Troy
Question:473. Deputy Robert Troy asked the Minister for Health if he will expedite a medical card application for a person (details supplied). [29656/15]
View answerWritten answers
The 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.
Medical Card Applications
Questions (474)
Robert Troy
Question:474. Deputy Robert Troy asked the Minister for Health if he will expedite a medical card application for a person (details supplied). [29657/15]
View answerWritten answers
The 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.
Medical Card Applications
Questions (475)
Robert Troy
Question:475. Deputy Robert Troy asked the Minister for Health if he will expedite a medical card application for a person (details supplied). [29658/15]
View answerWritten answers
The 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.
Medical Card Applications
Questions (476)
Robert Troy
Question:476. Deputy Robert Troy asked the Minister for Health if he will expedite a medical card application for a person (details supplied). [29659/15]
View answerWritten answers
The 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.
Medical Card Applications
Questions (477)
Robert Troy
Question:477. Deputy Robert Troy asked the Minister for Health if he will expedite a medical card application for a person (details supplied). [29660/15]
View answerWritten answers
The 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.
Medical Card Applications
Questions (478)
Robert Troy
Question:478. Deputy Robert Troy asked the Minister for Health if he will expedite a medical card application for a person (details supplied). [29661/15]
View answerWritten answers
The 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.
Medical Card Applications
Questions (479)
Robert Troy
Question:479. Deputy Robert Troy asked the Minister for Health if he will expedite a medical card application for a person (details supplied). [29662/15]
View answerWritten answers
The 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.
Hospital Waiting Lists
Questions (480)
Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin
Question:480. Deputy Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin asked the Minister for Health when a bed will be made available for a person (details supplied) in County Tipperary in the National Rehabilitation Hospital in County Limerick; the person's current position on the waiting list; the priority level that has been given to this person; if he will ensure that such a referral will be fulfilled, as deemed necessary by medical staff; his plans to increase the provision of this status of bed in the National Rehabilitation Hospital; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29694/15]
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 (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.
Medical Card Reviews
Questions (481)
Terence Flanagan
Question:481. Deputy Terence Flanagan asked the Minister for Health his plans to review the medical card limit; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29708/15]
View answerWritten answers
The 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. In assessing eligibility for a medical card the HSE has due regard to the legislation and regulations and issues income guidelines to assist in determining who has entitlement to a card. Following on from the publication of the Report of the Expert Panel on Medical Need for Medical Card Eligibility and the Medical Card Process Review in November 2014, the Minister and I identified, and had implemented, a range of actions to improve the operation of the medical card system, particularly for people with significant medical needs.
A detailed programme of reform was drawn up by the HSE with short, medium and long-term actions to be addressed over the period 2015-2016. The HSE has already implemented a number of short term and medium term processes identified in the programme of reform and work is underway on the longer term actions. To this end, the HSE put arrangements in place for a more integrated and sensitive processing of medical card applications involving significant medical conditions with greater interaction between the central office regarding the assessment of a person’s eligibility and the local health office regarding the person’s medical condition and the services that they may require. With respect to medical card and GP visit card coverage, as of the 1st of July 42.9% of the population have either a medical card or GP visit card. Of the 1.9m medical or GP visit cards in circulation on the 1st of July, 88,604 are discretionary medical cards and 39,829 are discretionary GP visit cards, an increase of 11,939 and 5,224 respectively since January this year.
Also as part of the Governments plans for universal GP care the under 6s now have access to GP services without charge and from early August all persons over 70 will be entitled to GP services without charge. This will mean that by the end of the summer, all 800,000 people aged over 70 and under 6 will be able to visit a GP without facing a financial barrier. This will be a significant step towards a universal GP service for the entire population.
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.
Medicinal Products Prices
Questions (482)
Terence Flanagan
Question:482. Deputy Terence Flanagan asked the Minister for Health his plans to reduce medication costs; the reason there is a large discrepancy between the costs here and in other European countries; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29710/15]
View answerWritten answers
The Government has introduced a series of reforms in recent years to reduce the prices of drugs and medicines which are paid for by the HSE. This has resulted in reductions in the price of thousands of medicines. Price reductions of the order of 30% per item reimbursed were achieved between 2009 and 2013; the average cost per items reimbursed is now running at 2001/2002 levels.
The State's current drug pricing agreement with the Irish Pharmaceutical Healthcare Association (IPHA), which commenced in October 2012, continues to deliver a number of important benefits, including significant reductions for patients in the cost of drugs, a lowering of the drugs bill to the State, timely access for patients to new cutting-edge drugs for certain conditions, and reducing the cost base of the health system into the future.
The IPHA agreement provides that prices are referenced to the currency-adjusted average price to wholesaler in nine EU member states (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Netherlands, Spain, and the UK), and these are the maximum prices paid by the HSE for originator drugs supplied through the community drug schemes. The gross savings arising from this deal will be in excess of €400 million over three years. Over half of the savings to be delivered - €210m - were to be reinvested by the State into the provision of new and innovative drugs.
Consideration is now being given to a range of options available to the State in seeking to deliver further savings on the cost of drugs. Such options include entering into a new Agreement with IPHA, as well as the possibility of using the legislative powers afforded to the HSE under the Health (Pricing and Supply of Medical Goods) Act 2013 to review and alter prices.
Officials in the Department of Health are currently working with their colleagues in the HSE and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform to ensure that the State achieves the best possible deal in terms of future price reductions on the cost of medicines. I am confident that a new arrangement will be put in place which will ensure that further price reductions are achieved for the benefits of patients and the taxpayer.
The continued implementation of generic substitution and reference pricing, as provided for under the Health (Pricing and Supply of Medical Goods) Act 2013, is also contributing to reducing the cost of medicines. Reference pricing has generated over €47 million in savings in 2014, and is expected to deliver a further €25 million in 2015. Reference pricing will ensure that generic drug prices in Ireland continue to fall towards European norms.
It is worth noting that the prices of drugs vary between countries for a number of reasons, including different prices set by manufacturers, different wholesale and pharmacy mark-ups, different dispensing fees and different rates of VAT. The size of the market can also be a factor in the prices set by manufacturers.
Medicinal Products Supply
Questions (483)
Terence Flanagan
Question:483. Deputy Terence Flanagan asked the Minister for Health his plans to review the items which require a prescription; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29711/15]
View answerWritten answers
Under the medicines legislation, the Health Products Regulatory (HPRA) is responsible for determining the method of sale and supply of medicines in Ireland. EU and Irish law lays out the circumstances under which a medicine must be subject to prescription including the risk of side effects if a medicine is used without medical supervision or the risk of incorrect or misuse of a medicine.
The reclassification of the method of sale and supply of medicines is a specific area of focus for the HPRA. The HPRA has been proactively reviewing the classification of medicines since 2014. Prescription only medicines (POM) can in certain circumstances be reclassified from prescription only medicines to medicines that are available over the counter in pharmacies (OTC) under the supervision of a pharmacist. These circumstances include the availability of information on the safe use of the medicine. Medicines which are available as OTC products can also be reclassified in certain circumstances to be made available for general retail sale status (GSL) in pharmacies and supermarkets, without the supervision of a healthcare professional.
In July 2014, the Authority published a group of 12 substances which it considered suitable for reclassification. These related to over 30 medicines used for the treatment of a variety of conditions including migraine, gastrointestinal disorders, dermatological conditions and others. Medicines containing these substances can, in certain circumstances be reclassified to be made available over the counter in pharmacies and supplied without prescription.
In addition to this initial publication of 12 substances, the HPRA in December 2014 identified a further group of substances suitable for reclassification. These included reclassification from both POM to OTC status, and OTC to GSL status.
There were 6 POM to OTC substances. These substances cover medicines used in treatment areas such as irritable bowel syndrome, psoriasis, migraine and topical treatments for inflammatory conditions in muscles, and joints.
There were 7 OTC to GSL substances. These substances cover a range of medicines primarily used topically for the treatment of: minor burns and scalds; insect bites and stings; inflammation and pain in muscles and joints; mild acne; hair loss in baldness. They also include medicines used in the treatment of eye irritation associated with hay fever and oral rehydration salts.
The HPRA has directly communicated with the marketing authorisation holders for the above products (32 products in total) with a view to determining interest in the submission of reclassification applications and possible timelines for this. The HPRA has to date received 35 expressions of interest in relation to reclassification of all of the medicines involved and is working closely with industry on this matter. The HPRA is continuing to work with the industry in order to progress the necessary submissions and will continue to proactively review the reclassification of medicines.
Medical Card Administration
Questions (484)
Terence Flanagan
Question:484. Deputy Terence Flanagan asked the Minister for Health if he will provide an update on the implementation of free general practitioner visit cards for persons over 70 years of age; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29713/15]
View answerWritten answers
The GP visit card scheme for the over 70s will commence on 1 August. The HSE will begin an information campaign regarding the registration process next week.
Health Services Provision
Questions (485)
Billy Kelleher
Question:485. Deputy Billy Kelleher asked the Minister for Health if he will provide, in tabular form, by local health area the average waiting time for ophthalmic assessment for primary or post-primary students. [29724/15]
View answerWritten answers
As the information requested by the Deputy relates to service issues and is not routinely provided to my Department, I have asked the Health Service Executive to reply directly to the Deputy on these matters. 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.