Written Answers Nos. 138 to 143
138. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Health the status of a decision by the Health Service Executive for a person (details supplied) in County Kerry; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3328/16]
View answerThe Deputy's question relates to service delivery matters and accordingly I have asked the HSE to respond directly to him.
If he has not received a reply from the HSE within 15 working days please contact my Private Office and my officials will follow up the matter with them.
139. Deputy Billy Kelleher asked the Minister for Health the number of community intervention teams in each community health care organisation; and the funding allocated for the teams in 2016. [3340/16]
View answerThere are currently 11 Community Intervention Teams (CITs) in place in Dublin North, Dublin South, Cork, Galway, Mid-West (Limerick/Clare/Tipperary), Carlow/Kilkenny, Wicklow, Kildare, Louth, Meath & Waterford.
As the provision of funding for CITs is a service issue, it has been referred to the Health Service Executive for direct reply to the Deputy. If he has 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.
140. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Health the status of cancer treatment (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3342/16]
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.
141. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for Health if the interdepartmental agency working group set up to examine the nursing home subvention scheme is in operation; the number of meetings; if it will seek submissions from interested parties; if the Irish Farmers' Association will have an opportunity to make a presentation to it; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3350/16]
View answerThe Review of the Nursing Homes Support Scheme was published in July 2015. Submissions were sought, in advance, from groups or bodies who wished to make a contribution to the Review, and the Irish Farmers' Association made a submission in this context on which they expanded at a subsequent meeting with officials of the Department of Health.
An Interdepartmental/Agency Working Group has been established to progress the recommendations contained in the Review, and this Group held its initial meeting on 1 December 2015. A further meeting took place on 26 January 2016. The Working Group is due to report on its progress to the Cabinet Committee on Health in June 2016.
This Group will consider the submission already made by the Irish Farmers' Association and will be briefed on the outcome of subsequent discussions with officials. When the Group reaches the point of considering the relevant issues in detail, the need for any further presentations will be considered by the Working Group itself.
Any significant changes ultimately deemed necessary to the Nursing Homes Support Scheme will require legislation and will accordingly be addressed together at the conclusion of the Review implementation process.
142. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for Health if he will provide further funding to the Health Service Executive to deal with the waiting list for scoliosis operations; if the present waiting lists are acceptable; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3353/16]
View answerOur Lady’s Children’s Hospital, Crumlin is the largest provider of scoliosis surgery for children and young people. Funding was allocated in 2015 for additional consultant posts including two consultant orthopaedic surgeons, anaesthetist and support staff at Crumlin while capital funding was also provided for a new theatre on site to expand theatre capacity further. The 2016 Service Plan specifically provides for support for the new theatre capacity and the continued development of paediatric scoliosis services to address ongoing capacity deficits.
In order to address waiting times in the interim, patients from Crumlin have been transferred to other hospitals where capacity is available and where that is clinically appropriate. These include Temple Street, Cappagh, Tallaght and the Blackrock Clinic. External capacity has also been identified at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital at Stanmore in the UK. The HSE is continuing to work with the Children’s Hospital Group and the individual hospitals to identify all options to increase capacity further to improve access times for surgery.
As the specific issues raised are a service matter, I have asked the HSE to respond to the Deputy directly. If he has not received a reply from the HSE within 15 working days please contact my Private Office and my officials will follow up the matter.
143. Deputy Brendan Griffin asked the Minister for Health his views on a submission (details supplied) regarding support for arthritis; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3363/16]
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.
I met with Arthritis Ireland previously where the topic of Arthritis Champions was briefly discussed.
As the specific questions raised by the Deputy are matters for the Health Service Executive, I have therefore asked the HSE to respond to the Deputy directly. If he has not received a reply from the HSE within 15 working days please contact my Private Office and my officials will follow up the matter.
