Written Answers Nos. 430 - 449
431. Deputy Michael Harty asked the Minister for Health if he can confirm that the pharmacy in University Hospital Limerick is refusing to dispense the drug Orkambi for extremely ill patients in counties Clare and Limerick; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18334/16]
View answerAs this is 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 the matter up.
432. Deputy Mary Butler asked the Minister for Health when an operation will be provided for a person (details supplied); the reason for the delay; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18338/16]
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 HSE, 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 the Deputy directly. If she has not received a reply from the HSE within 15 working days please contact my Private Office and my officials will follow the matter up.
433. Deputy Barry Cowen asked the Minister for Health the status of the case of a person (details supplied), including when the person will receive an appointment. [18344/16]
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 scheduling of appointments for patients is a matter for the hospital to which the patient has been referred. Should a patient's general practitioner consider that the patient's condition warrants an earlier appointment, he or she should take the matter up with the consultant and the hospital involved. In relation to the specific case raised, 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.
434. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Health the status of the amendment of the nursing homes support - fair deal - scheme (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18377/16]
View answer444. Deputy Sean Fleming asked the Minister for Health if he will consider reducing the timeframe from five to three years for transferred assets and income being included in the financial assessment for farm families and other self-employed persons under the nursing home support -fair deal - scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18436/16]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 434 and 444 together.
The Nursing Homes Support Scheme (NHSS) is a system of financial support for those assessed as needing long-term nursing home care. Participants contribute to the cost of their care according to their means while the State pays the balance of the cost.
It is Government policy to encourage orderly succession arrangements for farms, and this is endorsed by the farming organisations. In most cases early succession arrangements should ensure the transfer of farm assets well in excess of five years before nursing home care is required, meaning that a levy on the farm asset is avoided.
A person's Principal Private Residence (PPR) is only included in the financial assessment for the first three years of the NHSS participants' time in care. Importantly, the farm or relevant business can also qualify for this three year cap where unexpected health events prevent early succession arrangements. This applies where:
a) The applicant has suffered a sudden illness or disability which caused them to require care services and
b) A substantial part of the working day of the applicant or their partner was regularly and consistently applied to the farming of the farm or carrying on of the relevant business until the onset of the sudden illness or disability, and
c) A family successor certifies in writing that he or she will on a consistent and regular basis apply a substantial part of his or her working day to the farming of the farm or the carrying on of the relevant business.
When the NHSS commenced in 2009, a commitment was made that it would be reviewed after three years. The Review was published in July 2015. A number of key issues have been identified for more detailed consideration across Departments and Agencies, including the treatment of business and farm assets for the purposes of the financial assessment element of the Scheme. In advance of the Review, submissions were sought from groups or bodies who wished to make a contribution, and the Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) 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. This Group is chaired by the Department of Health and includes representatives from the Department of the Taoiseach, the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, the HSE, the Revenue Commissioners and, when required, the National Treatment Purchase Fund. The Group will consider the submission already made by the IFA.
The Programme for a Partnership Government has committed to reviewing the NHSS to remove any discrimination against small business and family farms. The IFA will be contacted by the Working Group in this regard in the near future.
436. Deputy Brendan Ryan asked the Minister for Health the cost of retaining a person (details supplied) in a centre; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18382/16]
View answerAs this is a service issue this question has been referred to the HSE for direct reply. If the Deputy has not received a reply within 15 working days, please contact my Private Office and they will follow up the matte with them.
437. Deputy Brendan Ryan asked the Minister for Health the number of persons the Ashlin Centre in Beaumont Hospital, Dublin 9, has turned away due to the unavailability of a bed since 30 September 2013; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18383/16]
View answerAs this is a service issue this question has been referred 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 matte with them.
438. Deputy Eugene Murphy asked the Minister for Health the percentage performance of the eight-minute and of the 19-minute echo-delta call-outs from the total number of call-outs in County Roscommon in each of the years 2015 and 2016 to date; his views on ongoing problems with ambulance response times in parts of counties Galway, Mayo and Roscommon and in the ambulance blackspot of west County Roscommon and east County Mayo in particular. [18403/16]
View answerWith regard to the specific query raised by the Deputy, 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.
439. Deputy Michael Harty asked the Minister for Health the status of an appointment for a person (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18406/16]
View answerAs this is a service matter, 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 them.
440. Deputy Jack Chambers asked the Minister for Health the amount of loans that participants, their estates or next-of-kin have repaid under the nursing home support - fair deal - scheme in each of the years 2009 to 2016 to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18407/16]
View answerUnder the Nursing Homes Support Scheme, where an applicant's assets include land and property in the State, the 7.5% contribution based on such assets may be deferred and collected from his or her estate after his or her death.
Under Section 26(2)(b) of the Nursing Homes Support Scheme Act 2009 the Revenue Commissioners are the appointed agents for the State in the collection of the repayable monies under the loan element of the Scheme. The Revenue Commissioners and the HSE work together in the calculation of amounts due to be repaid to the State.
The Revenue Commissioners have advised the HSE that the amounts repaid to the State from 2009 to end April 2016 are as follows:
|
Year |
2009-2011 |
2012 |
2013 |
2014 |
2015 |
2016 |
|
Amount |
€1,417,502 |
€4,592,789 |
€5,902,913 |
€8,293,435 |
€12,006,089 |
€4,148,682 |
The loan can be repaid at any time but will ultimately fall due for repayment upon the applicant's death.
441. Deputy John Deasy asked the Minister for Health the number of patients and families the new national rare diseases office has dealt with since it opened in June 2015, both in person and through the information helpline. [18423/16]
View answerAs the Deputy's question relates to service matters, I have arranged for the question to be 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 them.
442. Deputy Frank O'Rourke asked the Minister for Health when he will reinstate the home care package which his Department suspended in February 2016; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18427/16]
View answerHome supports are a key mechanism for enabling older people to remain in their own homes and communities for as long as possible and for facilitating their discharge from acute hospitals. From the outset, the resources available for 2016 matched those provided in 2015, so there was never any overall reduction in services. However, the numbers of patients who had completed their acute treatment but required home-care in order to be discharged was very high in the early part of this year, and while the HSE did its best to meet this need it would have been necessary to adjust new service approvals if the original funding limit had applied. To ensure that this does not happen, the Government has increased the resources available. €20m will be allocated to ensure that the 10.4 million home help hours, 15,450 home care packages, 130 intensive home care packages and 313 transitional care beds provided in 2015 are maintained; €10m will ensure that the rate of service allocation can be maintained during the summer months; and €10m has been ring fenced for home care as part of the forthcoming winter initiative.
443. Deputy Peter Burke asked the Minister for Health if he will review an assessment for a person (details supplied) under the nursing home support - fair deal - scheme. [18433/16]
View answerAs this is a service matter it has been referred to the Health Service Executive for direct reply. If the Deputy 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 them.
Question No. 444 answered with Question No. 334.
446. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for Health if he is aware that women can wait for four months for an appointment for a breast magnetic resonance imaging scan in the Mater Hospital in Dublin 7 and subsequently have to wait for the results to be interpreted over a period of six weeks or more, as consultants only examine these results on Mondays and Wednesdays, causing extreme stress for the women involved; his views on same; and his plans to rectify this matter. [18446/16]
View answerAs this is a service matter, I have asked the HSE to respond to the Deputy directly. If she has not received a reply from the HSE within 15 working days please contact my Private Office and my officials will follow the matter up.
447. Deputy Michael McGrath asked the Minister for Health if he has any vacancies in his Department or in the Health Service Executive in the area of health promotion; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18447/16]
View answerThere are currently no vacancies in the Health Promotion Unit of my Department. In respect of vacancies in the Health Service Executive (HSE), my Department has asked the HSE to respond to the Deputy directly on this matter. If he has not received a reply from the HSE within 15 working days please contact my Private office and they will follow up on the matter with them.
448. Deputy Robert Troy asked the Minister for Health if a person (details supplied) will be fitted with an item through the medical card scheme. [18502/16]
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.
449. Deputy Michael Harty asked the Minister for Health to expedite a home care package for persons (details supplied) in County Clare; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18510/16]
View answerAs this is a service matter it has been referred to the Health Service Executive for direct reply. If the Deputy 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 them.
