Written Answers Nos. 144 to 151
144. Deputy Patrick O'Donovan asked the Minister for Health when he will respond to correspondence, dated 19 June 2015, from this Deputy concerning the funding deficit at an organisation (details supplied) in County Cork; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34862/15]
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, he can contact my Private Office and they will follow the matter up with the HSE.
145. Deputy Pat Deering asked the Minister for Health when a person (details supplied) in County Carlow will have a hernia operation carried out in St. Vincent's hospital in Elm Park in Dublin 4. [34875/15]
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.
146. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Minister for Health the number of dermatology patients in County Donegal; the number of these under the care of a consultant from Altnagelvin Area Hospital; Sligo General Hospital; the current waiting time to see a dermatologist in County Donegal; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34888/15]
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.
147. Deputy Stephen S. Donnelly asked the Minister for Health the number of persons over 80 years of age who do not have a medical card. [34890/15]
View answerNeither the Department of Health nor the HSE records population data. I can, however, advise the Deputy that at 2 September this year, over 15,700 persons aged 80 years and over held a GP visit card.
148. Deputy Michael McCarthy asked the Minister for Health his views on correspondence (details supplied) regarding the national children's hospital; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34891/15]
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 the Coombe Women and Infants University Hospital, which will re-locate to the campus in due course. Satellite centres of the hospital, providing urgent and outpatient care, are to be built on the campuses of Connolly and Tallaght Hospitals.
The Government's decision that the new children's hospital should be co-located with St. James's on its campus in Dublin 8 was clinically led. In 2006 McKinsey report, Children’s Health First, which recommended that the population of Ireland and projected demand could support only one world-class tertiary paediatric centre, that this should be in Dublin and ideally be co-located with a leading adult academic hospital, to ensure relevant sub-specialty and academic linkages. The McKinsey report recognised the importance for quality of healthcare of having a critical mass of sub-specialist skills in a tertiary centre and stated this could be achieved firstly, by serving a large enough population to support a full complement of sub-specialists and secondly by co-locating with an adult teaching hospital thus enabling access to specialties that encompass both adult and paediatric patients, facilitating clinical and academic “cross fertilisation”, and attracting the top staff. A number of subsequent reviews and reports on this project over the years since 2006, most recently the 2012 Dolphin report, reaffirmed the importance of co-location with a major adult academic teaching hospital. This was a critical factor in the Government’s decision in November 2012 that the new hospital should be co-located with St. James’s, as the hospital with the widest range of clinical specialties and national services from an adult perspective, and an excellent and well established research and education culture and infrastructure.
On 10 August 2015 the NPHDB submitted a planning application to An Bord Pleanála and, subject to planning, it is hoped to be on site at all three locations in early 2016. During the design process, there were extensive consultations with families, young people and children who are former or current users of the service, with staff of the existing hospitals, with clinical leads and with local residents. This process has led to the development of a world-class building which has been designed to enable staff to deliver the best possible clinical care for children and young people, while also seeking to provide a pleasant environment for staff and families. All in-patient accommodation will be in single en-suite rooms, with in-room parent accommodation, while the planning application also includes a family hostel to be located on the campus. The main hospital on the St. James’s campus will have 1,000 basement car spaces as well as excellent public transport connections, and a Mobility Management Plan is being introduced on the hospital campus to manage the increase in traffic associated with the new children's hospital. A 3D walkthrough of the hospital can be seen on www.newchildrenshospital.ie while the complete planning application can be viewed on nchplanning.ie. There is also a drop-in centre at 568 South Circular Road where a 3D model can be seen.
149. Deputy Patrick O'Donovan asked the Minister for Health his plans to make the provision of fertility treatment, specifically in vitro fertilisation and intracytoplasmic sperm injection, more readily available; the provisions that he will introduce to lessen the financial burden on couples who find themselves in the position of seeking these types of treatment; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34904/15]
View answerIn February of this year I received Government approval to draft the General Scheme of a Bill for assisted human reproduction, which will include provisions relating to numerous aspects from the beginning to the end of the assisted human reproduction process.
As I have previously stated it is currently not the case that the public funding of fertility treatments will be included as part of these provisions.
Although in vitro fertilisation (IVF) treatment is not provided by the Irish public health service, there is some support available in that patients who access IVF treatment privately may claim tax relief on the costs involved under the tax relief for medical expenses scheme. In addition, a defined list of fertility medicines needed for fertility treatment is covered under the High Tech Scheme administered by the Health Service Executive (HSE). Medicines covered by the High Tech Scheme must be prescribed by a consultant/specialist and approved by the HSE ‘High Tech Liaison Officers’. The cost of the medicines is then covered, as appropriate, under the Medical Card or Drugs Payment Scheme.
150. Deputy Brendan Smith asked the Minister for Health the proposals he has to ensure that all medical card holders, irrespective of their location, are provided with free dental benefit if they need to access dental treatment in the dental hHospital; if this provision is already in place for medical card holders in the Dublin and Wicklow area; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34907/15]
View answerAs this is a service matter, it has been 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.
151. Deputy Joanna Tuffy asked the Minister for Health for an update on the policy of means testing adult children for medical cards; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34909/15]
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.
