Written Answers Nos. 342-354
342. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Health the status of an appointment for a procedure in Cork University Hospital for a person (details supplied) in County Kerry; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2034/16]
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.
343. Deputy Terence Flanagan asked the Minister for Health his plans to improve mental health services; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2040/16]
View answerSince coming into office, this Government has made significant efforts to prioritise mental health care. We have provided €160 million ring-fenced funding and approved 1,150 new posts for mental health since 2012 up to the end of 2016, to modernise services in line with A Vision for Change and Programme for Government commitments. This includes €35 million provided for 2016, bringing the total budget available for the mental health this year to €826.6 million. A key focus has been additional posts to strengthen Community Mental Health Teams for both adults and children. This funding is also being used to enhance specialist community mental health and forensic services, increase the access to counselling and psychotherapy and for suicide prevention initiatives.
In 2016, our priorities will include the continued development of counselling services across both primary and secondary care including the provision of three new Jigsaw mental health services in Cork, Dublin city centre and Limerick; the continued development of Community Mental Health Teams; improved 24/7 response and Liaison Services; Psychiatry of Later Life; Perinatal Mental Health, and two new mental health clinical programmes, specifically, ADHD in Adults and Children, and Dual Diagnosis of those with Mental Illness and Substance Misuse.
The HSE in is National Service Plan for 2016 has also committed to:
- Ensuring that the views of service users, family members and carers are central to the design and delivery of mental health services;
- Designing integrated evidence based and recovery focused mental health services;
- Delivering timely, clinically effective and standardised safe mental health services in adherence to statutory requirements;
- Promoting the mental health of the population in collaboration with other services and agencies including reducing loss of life by suicide; and
- Enabling the provision of mental health services by highly trained and engaged staff and fit for purpose infrastructure.
Plans for the Mental Health Service also include the development of a new National Forensic Mental Health Service (NFMHS) hospital, which will be built on the site of St. Ita's Hospital, Portrane. Work on improving the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) Services will continue, thus ensuring that all aspects of the service are delivered in a consistent and timely fashion, including improved access. The HSE recently introduced a new Standard Operating Procedure for both in-patient and community CAMHS services. This will help improve the service overall, such as reducing inappropriate admissions of adolescents to adult units, and reducing Waiting Lists, particularly for those waiting over 12 months. Those waiting 12 months or more has decreased by 55% from 459 at end of April 2015 to 207 in November 2015.
Other priorities include the drafting of a General Scheme of a Bill to reflect the changes recommended by the Expert Group review of the Mental Health Act 2001, the review of A Vision for Change which will be 10 years old this year, and the implementation of Connecting for Life - Ireland's National Strategy to Reduce Suicide 2015 - 2020.
344. Deputy Terence Flanagan asked the Minister for Health if assistance is available to a person (details supplied) in Dublin 13; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2041/16]
View answerAs the particular issue raised relates to an individual case, I have arranged for the question to be referred to the HSE for direct reply to you. 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.
345. Deputy Mary Mitchell O'Connor asked the Minister for Health when a person (details supplied) will have an operation carried out in Saint Michael's Hospital, Dún Laoghaire, County Dublin; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2047/16]
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.
346. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Health the status of an appointment for a person (details supplied) in County Kerry; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2048/16]
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.
347. Deputy Brendan Griffin asked the Minister for Health his views on a matter (details supplied) regarding rheumatology services; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2052/16]
View answerA model of care is being developed by the National Clinical Programme for Rheumatology and this will determine the service developments and associated personnel requirements which will best support the needs of patients requiring Rheumatology treatments.
As the specific questions raised by the Deputy are matters for the Health Service Executive, I have therefore 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.
348. Deputy Michael McGrath asked the Minister for Health when a person (details supplied) in County Cork will be assessed at the child and adolescent mental health services in Mahon, County Cork. [2060/16]
View answerAs this is a service issue, I am referring this question to the HSE for direct reply. If you have not received a reply within 15 working days, please contact my Private Office and they will follow up the matter with them.
349. Deputy Seán Ó Fearghaíl asked the Minister for Health if he will expedite an application by a person (details supplied) in County Kildare for a nursing home support scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2100/16]
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.
350. Deputy Mary Mitchell O'Connor asked the Minister for Health when a medical card will be returned to a person (details supplied) in County Dublin; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2104/16]
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.
351. Deputy Mary Mitchell O'Connor asked the Minister for Health why the medical card of a person (details supplied) in County Dublin is on hold; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2105/16]
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.
352. Deputy Tom Fleming asked the Minister for Health to urgently examine a submission for a medical device by a person (details supplied) in County Kerry; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2111/16]
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.
353. Deputy Joe Costello asked the Minister for Health the number of occurrences in which foreign bodies were left in a patient's body following surgery in Our Lady’s Children's Hospital in Crumlin, County Dublin in 2015; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2112/16]
View answer355. Deputy Joe Costello asked the Minister for Health the number of times a guide wire was left in a patient's body following surgery between 2010 and 2015; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2114/16]
View answer356. Deputy Joe Costello asked the Minister for Health the steps Our Lady’s Children's Hospital in Crumlin, Dublin 12 took to address occurrences in which foreign bodies were left in a patient's body following surgery in the hospital in 2015; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2115/16]
View answer357. Deputy Joe Costello asked the Minister for Health the reason for the delay in producing a report indicating why a guide wire was left in a patient's body in Our Lady’s Children's Hospital in Crumlin, Dublin, in 2015; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2116/16]
View answer358. Deputy Joe Costello asked the Minister for Health his views on the fact that a guide was left in a patient's body following surgery in 2015; why this occurred given that a similar event was reported in 2014; why procedures were not in place to ensure this did not recur; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2117/16]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 353 and 355 to 358, inclusive, together.
In relation to your queries in these matters, 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.
354. Deputy Joe Costello asked the Minister for Health the number of occurrences in which foreign bodies were left in a patient's body in children's hospitals in 2015; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2113/16]
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.
