Written Answers Nos. 721-738
721. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Minister for Health further to Parliamentary Question No. 233 of 13 October 2015, the arrangements being put in place in other areas of the Health Service Executive, where women who qualify under the Redress for Women Resident in Certain Institutions Act 2015 are being assessed on a case-by-case basis for enhanced care. [37671/15]
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.
722. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Minister for Health further to Parliamentary Question Number 233 of 13 October 2015, if arrangements are in place in other areas of the Health Service Executive, where women who qualify under the Redress for Women Resident in Certain Institutions Act 2015 are being assessed on a case-by-case basis for enhanced care; and if the women in question have been informed that this system is in place. [37672/15]
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.
723. Deputy Fergus O'Dowd asked the Minister for Health the position regarding an application for funding by a group (details supplied) in County Louth; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37680/15]
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.
724. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Minister for Health the current waiting times for routine physiotherapy referrals to the Health Service Executive in the Carndonagh and Buncrana offices in County Donegal; if the staffing complement is currently at its maximum level, and if the Health Service Executive has any plans to recruit additional staff; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37698/15]
View answerAs this is a service issue, 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 the Executive.
725. Deputy Gabrielle McFadden asked the Minister for Health his plans to progress the development of a level 3 hospice unit in the Midlands, which was promised 14 years ago, to help address the need for specialist impatient palliative care and associated day care services; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37700/15]
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.
726. Deputy Colm Keaveney asked the Minister for Health the position regarding an appointment for a medical procedure for a person (details supplied) in County Galway; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37704/15]
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.
727. Deputy Mattie McGrath asked the Minister for Health the number of persons awaiting knee and hip operations in County Tipperary; the waiting times for same; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37716/15]
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.
728. Deputy Mattie McGrath asked the Minister for Health the number of children awaiting speech and language assessment in County Tipperary; the waiting times for same; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37717/15]
View answerAs this is a service issue, 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 the Executive.
729. Deputy Mattie McGrath asked the Minister for Health his views on the current number of ambulances available in County Tipperary; and if the response times are being met. [37718/15]
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.
730. Deputy Eoghan Murphy asked the Minister for Health the current policy on the provision of Epipens in urban centres and cities; and his plans to change this policy in the near future. [37726/15]
View answerThere are currently three adrenaline auto-injectors authorised and marketed in Ireland. Brands include Anapen®, Epipen® and Jext®.
The Health Products Regulatory Authority has recently granted a Marketing Authorisation (MA) for a fourth adrenaline auto-injector, Emerade®. This has a 3 year shelf life. It is expected that supplies of Emerade® will arrive onto the Irish market in the coming days. This will increase prescription choice and availability of medicines.
Adrenaline auto-injector pens are normally ordered by pharmacies from wholesalers and dispensed to patients on foot of a prescription.
On Thursday 15th October 2015, I signed new regulations which will allow certain prescription-only medicines, including adrenaline auto-injectors, to be administered by trained members of the public and by Pharmacists in emergency situations.
Organisations such as colleges, schools, restaurants and sports clubs will be allowed to hold adrenaline auto-injectors and to arrange for staff to be trained in their use in the event of an emergency. Under the new arrangements it is a condition of administration of the medication concerned by lay persons that such persons must have undergone appropriate training in this regard.
The arrangements which the new regulations permit are voluntary. Organisations are not obliged to participate unless they wish to do so.
731. Deputy John Halligan asked the Minister for Health the number of patients who have undergone ostomy operations here in the years, 2010 to 2014; the number of persons here who currently have either an iliostomy bag or a colonostomy bag; his plans to include this condition in the long-term illness scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37727/15]
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.
732. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for Health the action he proposes to take to deal with consultants who are refusing to assist those persons, who are already on waiting lists, to travel to avail of services under the cross-border directive; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37728/15]
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.
733. Deputy Brendan Griffin asked the Minister for Health if national lottery funding will be provided to an organisation (details supplied) in County Kerry; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37733/15]
View answerMy Department received an application for National Lottery funding from the organisation referred to by the Deputy. Applications for National Lottery grants far exceed the resources available. The lottery fund for 2015 has recently been allocated and, unfortunately on this occasion, it was not possible to assist in this particular case. My Department is in the process of notifying organisations of the outcome of their applications.
If funding for this project is required in 2016, the organisation may wish to apply for a grant from the 2016 National Lottery allocation which will open next January. I would encourage the organisation in question to reapply.
734. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Health when a pre-operation assessment will be facilitated for a person (details supplied) in County Kildare who has been awaiting a pre-operation assessment and an operation since March 2015, who appears to be on the emergency list, and whose quality of life is rapidly deteriorating in the absence of surgery; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37740/15]
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.
735. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for Health if the case of the 110 teenage girls who having taken Gardasil and who have all presented with the same or similar life-altering symptoms should be investigated, with particular reference to their assessment, diagnosis and treatment; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37745/15]
View answerIn Ireland the National Immunisation Advisory Committee (NIAC) which comprises experts in a number of specialties including infectious diseases, paediatrics and public health make recommendation on vaccination policy in Ireland. Their recommendations are based on the prevalence of the relevant disease in Ireland and international best practice in relation to immunisation. The NIAC guidance is regularly updated and the latest updates including details of local and general adverse events to each vaccine are available on the HSE website.
In Ireland, the Health Products Regulatory Authority (HPRA) is the regulatory authority for medicines in Ireland. There are 2 licensed HPV vaccines available in Ireland (Gardasil® and Cervarix®). Gardasil® is the vaccine used by the HSE in the School Immunisation Programme. The vaccine protects against two high risk types of HPV (16 and 18) that cause 73% of all cervical cancers. Vaccinated women and girls will still be at risk from other high risk types of HPV that can cause cervical cancer and will therefore need to continue to have regular cervical smear tests.
While no medicine, including vaccines, is entirely without risk, the safety profile of Gardasil® has been continuously monitored since it was first authorised nationally and at EU level. This is done by monitoring both individual adverse reaction reports received by competent authorities across Europe and Periodic Safety Update Reports submitted by the Marketing Authorisation Holder for the vaccine on a regular basis. The introduction of new vaccines is based on the expert advice of the NIAC. Decisions on the supply of vaccines into the market are undertaken by specific expert agencies rather than being the responsibility of the Minister of the day.
All vaccines are licensed by the HPRA and the European Medicines Agency (EMA). No vaccine is or will be licensed by the HPRA and the EMA unless it is has been approved as safe by the Licensing Authority.
As part of its monitoring of the safety of medicines, the HPRA operates an adverse reaction reporting system, with healthcare professionals and patients encouraged to report adverse reactions they consider may be associated with their treatment, through the range of options in place for reporting. All reports received are evaluated and considered in the context of the safety profile of the product concerned, with reports followed up as necessary for further information, that may assist in the assessment of the case. All reports received through the online reporting options receive an acknowledgement and case record number on successful submission of a report and further information is provided to reporters in respect of any questions/concerns reflected in their reports, in the context of report follow up. In addition, pharmaceutical companies are obliged, as a condition of the authorisation to market a medicine, to submit reports of adverse reactions received directly, to the HPRA. In accordance with its reporting obligations, the HPRA provides anonymised details of reports received to the EMA, the World Health Organisation and to the relevant pharmaceutical companies.
In the context of monitoring the safety of medicines, new information on a possible risk is called a signal. Signals of possible, previously unknown adverse reactions or changes in the severity, characteristics or frequency of known adverse reactions may arise from various data sources, including spontaneous reports, clinical trials and epidemiological studies. Once a signal has been identified, investigations are necessary to confirm and quantify the risk. These investigations consider the likelihood that a medicine may have caused or contributed to the effect, try to identify risk factors and estimate the frequency of occurrence. Following the assessment of a safety signal, a decision on the most appropriate regulatory action is taken by the competent authorities. The regulatory action is communicated to healthcare professionals, patients and the general public through established channels, and timelines reflect the degree of urgency. The established channels include publications on websites, information provided to patient and healthcare professionals and the media as well as direct mailing to healthcare professionals.
The HPRA is participating in the Pharmacovigilance and Risk Assessment Committee's (PRAC) review of HPV vaccines to clarify aspects of their safety profile. As for all licensed medicines, the safety of these vaccines is monitored by the PRAC (an EU level drug safety committee) where the HPRA is actively represented and contributes.
The EMA has commenced a review of the HPV vaccine "to further clarify aspects of their safety profile," although the agency points out that this review "does not question that the benefits of HPV vaccines outweigh their risks." The review is specifically focusing on rare reports of two conditions: complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS, a chronic pain condition affecting the limbs) and postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS, a condition where the heart rate increases abnormally after sitting or standing up, causing symptoms such as dizziness and fainting, as well as headache, chest pain and weakness). Reports of these conditions in young women who have received a HPV vaccine have been previously considered during routine safety monitoring by the PRAC but a causal link between them and the vaccines was not established. Both conditions can occur in non-vaccinated individuals and it is considered important to further review if the number of cases reported with HPV vaccine is greater than would be expected. The outcome of the PRAC review is anticipated before the end of this year.
As of the 9 October, the HPRA has received 921 reports of suspected adverse reactions or events notified in association with the use of HPV vaccines. Of the 921 reports received, 918 were associated with use of Gardasil® and three were associated with Cervarix®. This level of reporting for Gardasil® reflects the very positive response to calls for monitoring and reporting of national experience associated with use of the vaccine and the very high level of vaccine uptake, following its introduction into the national immunisation programme which commenced in May 2010. The vast majority of reports received by the Authority have been consistent with the expected pattern of adverse effects for the vaccines, as described in the product information. The fact that a suspected adverse reaction has been reported does not necessarily mean that the medicine has caused the observed effect, which may have also been caused by the disease being treated, a new disease the patient developed, or by another medicine that the patient is taking.
Vaccination related events, occurring at the time of vaccine administration, such as syncope (faints) has been among the most commonly reported effects. Other commonly reported symptoms include gastrointestinal symptoms, malaise, headache, dizziness and injection site reactions. Reports of allergic-type reactions including skin rashes, urticaria and flushing have also been received, including isolated reports of more severe hypersensitivity-type reactions.
The EMA has advised healthcare professionals that available data does not warrant any change to the use of HPV vaccines. Healthcare professionals should therefore continue using Gardasil® and Cervarix® in accordance with the current product information.
736. Deputy Colm Keaveney asked the Minister for Health when a child (details supplied) in County Galway will receive an appointment for critical orthopaedic surgery to treat an 80o+ scoliosis curve; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37750/15]
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 Saolta University Healthcare Group has assured my Department that the waiting list for such surgery is a high priority and that Galway University Hospital has been actively working to ensure that the necessary arrangements are in place in order to facilitate the level of complexity involved. In particular, significant progress is being made in relation to ensuring the required resources are in place in the context of bed availability, access to diagnostics, purchase of specialist spinal equipment and access to theatre. My Department is informed that the waiting list for spinal surgery at Galway University Hospital currently comprises thirteen patients, that one scoliosis patient was treated between January and May 2015 and that 3 scoliosis patients have been treated since May 2015.
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.
737. Deputy Marcella Corcoran Kennedy asked the Minister for Health his plans to grant a transfer request submitted by a person (details supplied) in County Offaly, who has been on the waiting list for a transfer since 9 May 2013; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37755/15]
View answerI 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.
738. Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn asked the Minister for Health the number of patients from County Donegal who have been referred to Ballykelly Hospital in County Derry in 2015 to date for MRI brain scans; the cost from Letterkenny General Hospital's budget; and why these procedures can not be carried out at Letterkenny General Hospital in County Donegal [37759/15]
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.
