Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 3 November 2015
852. Deputy Ruth Coppinger asked the Minister for Health if he will report on the availability of specialist feed for new-born children in maternity and paediatric hospitals at weekends and bank holidays; the steps that are being taken to resolve the supply problems; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38353/15]
View answerFannin Compounding Limited (FCL) is authorised by the Health Products Regulatory Authority (HPRA) for the compounding of a number of medicines that are mainly patient specific. These include parenteral nutrition (intravenous feed) for babies. My Department, the HPRA and HSE are aware that, for parenteral nutrition, FCL has made a business decision to change from a 7 day working week to a 5 day working week based on available resources. This commenced over the weekend of Saturday 24/ Sunday 25 October. The company provided a compounding service on bank holiday Monday 26 October. I understand that the company liaised with the HSE in advance of this change and that the HSE is working with FCL to ensure that paediatric and neonatal nutritional requirements are met. A clinical group was established to review the planned reduction of TPN to determine the impact on the services and establish a contingency plan for hospitals. Contingency plans will remain in place to ensure the demand is met.
FCL continues to provide an amount of these products that are required for weekends by compounding those on Thursday and Friday of each week. Additional requirements can be sourced by the HSE from authorised manufacturers in other member states of the EU.
In relation to the specific query 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.
