Written Answers Nos. 601 - 620
601. Deputy Michael McGrath asked the Minister for Health the Health Service Executive's policy relating to the operation of car parks within hospital grounds; the amount of revenue collected in respect of those car parks around the country; his views on the charges customers have to pay; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23882/16]
View answerParking charges form part of a series of measures which ensure that the operational costs of providing parking services do not impact negatively on a hospital's overall budget. The HSE have advised me that total revenue collected from all of the hospital car parks (car parking fees and clamping) for 2015 was €16,020,354.
Some hospitals do not provide a public car park or do not charge a parking fee. I am advised by the HSE that, of the hospitals that do charge parking fees, some use parking revenue solely for maintenance and re-investment in parking facilities, including repayment of loans obtained for upgrading such facilities and investment in security.
The remainder of hospitals use parking revenue to cover the cost of parking services, with any additional income being used to contribute to the general hospital budget, or to fund research or specific patient facilities.
I am aware that those hospitals which charge parking fees are very cognisant of the financial implications of parking costs for patients and their families. Consequently hospitals have introduced a maximum daily fixed parking charge, thus capping this expense.
While there is no national HSE policy governing car park charges, the HSE advises me that it keeps hospital parking charges under review.
602. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Health the reason an urgent operation has been cancelled for a person (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23899/16]
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. 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.
603. Deputy Jan O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Health his role and the role of his Department relating to the remedies outlined by the United Nations Human Rights Committee in its views on the complaint brought by a person (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23915/16]
View answerThe United Nations Human Rights Committee published its findings on Thursday 9th of June on complaints brought by Ms Amanda Mellet against the State. The complaint relates to the inability of Ms Mellet, who was carrying an unborn child with Edwards Syndrome (a fatal foetal abnormality), to access a termination of pregnancy within this jurisdiction.
My Department is currently studying the findings of the Committee and considering what measures should be taken. We are also consulting with the Office of the Attorney General and with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade as they act as the Agent for the Government before the United Nations Human Rights Committee.
The Deputy will be aware that termination of pregnancy is regulated in Ireland by constitutional and statute law and in particular the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution (Article 40.3.3) which acknowledges and guarantees in its laws to respect and, as far as practicable, to defend and vindicate that right, with due regard to the equal right to life of the mother.
I believe that the Government’s commitment to develop a consensus approach on the Eight Amendment within a Citizen’s Assembly is the way to move forward. The issue of fatal foetal abnormalities can be examined as part of this process and I would expect the views of the UN Human Rights Committee will also be considered.
Aside from the constitutional issue of the Eight Amendment I am also considering within the law what other services and supports can be put in place to help women in these circumstances.
604. Deputy Billy Kelleher asked the Minister for Health the community health care organisations which have appointed a head of social care, in tabular form. [23935/16]
View answerAs the Deputy's question relates to service matters, I have arranged for the question to be referred to the Health Service Executive (HSE) for direct reply to the Deputy. If the Deputy has not received a reply from the HSE within 15 working days, the Deputy can contact my Private Office and they will follow the matter up with the HSE.
605. Deputy Billy Kelleher asked the Minister for Health the community health care organisations which have appointed a head of primary care, in tabular form. [23936/16]
View answerAs this is a service issue, this question 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.
606. Deputy Billy Kelleher asked the Minister for Health the community health care organisations which have appointed a head of mental health, in tabular form. [23937/16]
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 matter with them.
607. Deputy Billy Kelleher asked the Minister for Health the community health care organisations which have produced a Children First implementation plan, in tabular form. [23938/16]
View answerAs this is a service issue, this question 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.
608. Deputy Billy Kelleher asked the Minister for Health the hospital groups which have produced a Children First implementation plan, in tabular form. [23939/16]
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.
609. Deputy Billy Kelleher asked the Minister for Health the HSE funded organisations which provide services to children and young persons that have undertaken an assessment of any risk to a child who is availing of their services and have used this risk assessment to publish a child safeguarding statement; and the details of those HSE funded organisations which have not carried out these assessments or published a child safeguarding statement, in tabular form. [23940/16]
View answerThe particular issue raised by the Deputy is a service matter for the Health Service Executive. Accordingly I have arranged for the question to be referred to the HSE 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.
610. Deputy Billy Kelleher asked the Minister for Health the hospital groups and community health care organisations that have a quality and safety committee in place, in tabular form. [23941/16]
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.
611. Deputy Billy Kelleher asked the Minister for Health the community health care organisations with a plan in place to implement their approach to the establishment of residents councils, family forums, service user panels or equivalent for HSE disability services, in tabular form. [23942/16]
View answerAs the Deputy's question relates to service matters, I have arranged for the question to be referred to the Health Service Executive (HSE) for direct reply to the Deputy. If the Deputy has not received a reply from the HSE within 15 working days, the Deputy can contact my Private Office and they will follow the matter up with the HSE.
612. Deputy Billy Kelleher asked the Minister for Health the percentage of serious reportable events currently being notified within 24 hours to a designated officer. [23943/16]
View answer613. Deputy Billy Kelleher asked the Minister for Health the percentage of mandatory investigations commenced within 48 hours of the events occurring. [23944/16]
View answer614. Deputy Billy Kelleher asked the Minister for Health the percentage of mandatory investigations currently completed within four months of notification of the events occurring. [23945/16]
View answer615. Deputy Billy Kelleher asked the Minister for Health the percentage of reportable events in 2016 reported within 30 days of occurrence to the designated officer. [23946/16]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 612 to 615, inclusive, together.
As these are service matters, they have been referred to the Health Service Executive for attention and direct reply to the Deputy. However, I would underline the importance which I attach to improving patient safety. Related to that, it is widely acknowledged that a strong patient safety culture is linked to high patient safety incident reporting. Increased incident reporting should lead to earlier identification of patterns and trends in clinical incidents in order to maximise learning as swiftly as possible in the health system.
The National Incident Management System (NIMS) was established by the State Claims Agency. The NIMS has the capacity to manage no harm incidents, near misses, dangerous occurrences and complaints as collectively defined by the World Health Organization. All incidents in the healthcare sector including Serious Reportable Events (SREs) which are the most serious forms of error that cause harm to patients must be reported directly on to NIMS since June 2015.
The General Scheme of the Health Information and Patient Safety Bill provides that public health service providers must notify serious patient incidents (reportable incidents) occurring in their services to the State Claims Agency and to HIQA or the Mental Health Commission, as appropriate.
The Department has taken very seriously the critical challenges to the health services in relation to patient safety. A number of crucial gaps in relation to patient safety leadership and patient safety culture at both policy and service delivery level were examined in 2015 and in direct response to this a set of far reaching and significant patient safety reforms was proposed in line with international best practice.
In November 2015, the Government approved a major programme of patient safety reforms which included the establishment of a National Patient Safety Office (NPSO) in the Department of Health. The establishment of the NPSO is to provide the Department with the capacity to take greater oversight of the system of patient safety to support the Minister’s need for a direct and accountable implementation response to patient safety incidents, HIQA recommendations, National Clinical Effectiveness Committee (NCEC) guidelines and escalation alerts to the State Claims Agency.
It is intended that the NPSO will provide the required leadership and direction with regard to patient safety policy and legislation relevant to patient safety for the healthcare system. It will develop the model for the new National Patient Advocacy Service. Through surveillance of patient safety trends, production of patient safety and complaints profiles for specific patient, clinical and service cohorts, and, delivery of the national framework for clinical effectiveness it will identify, based on evidence, patient safety priorities and required patient safety initiatives.
Appropriate management and reporting of patient safety incidents is a key aspect of overall policy and system requirements for a safe quality health system. Patient safety incidents can have significant impacts on individual patients and as such are treated as a high priority by my Department.
616. Deputy Billy Kelleher asked the Minister for Health the community health care organisations which have in place a HCAI or infection control committee, in tabular form. [23947/16]
View answerAs these are service matters, they have been referred to the Health Service Executive for attention and direct reply to the Deputy. 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.
617. Deputy Billy Kelleher asked the Minister for Health the number of community health care organisation heads of social care who can evidence implementation of the HSE’s safeguarding vulnerable persons at risk of abuse policy throughout the community health care organisation. [23948/16]
View answerThe particular issue raised by the Deputy is a service matter for the Health Service Executive. Accordingly I have arranged for the question to be referred to the HSE 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.
618. Deputy Billy Kelleher asked the Minister for Health the number of community health care organisation, CHO, heads of social care that have established CHO-wide organisational arrangements required by the HSE's safeguarding vulnerable persons at risk of abuse policy. [23949/16]
View answer629. Deputy Billy Kelleher asked the Minister for Health the actions to continue the implementation process of the safeguarding vulnerable adults policy to be undertaken during Q1 and Q2 of 2016; and if he will outline which of these have been completed, in tabular form [23960/16]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 618 and 629 together.
The particular issues raised by the Deputy are service matters for the Health Service Executive. Accordingly I have arranged for the questions to be referred to the HSE 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.
619. Deputy Billy Kelleher asked the Minister for Health the number of personal assistant hours provided by the HSE to date in 2016. [23950/16]
View answerThe Government is committed to providing services and supports for people with disabilities which will empower them to live independent lives, provide greater independence in accessing the services they choose and enhance their ability to tailor the supports required to meet their needs and plan their lives. This commitment is outlined in the Programme for Partnership Government, which is guided by two principles: equality of opportunity and improving the quality of life for people with disabilities.
With regard to assisted living services, the Health Service Executive's (HSE's) priority in the 2016 National Service Plan is to protect the level of services provided in 2015 and to provide 1.3 million hours of Personal Assistant services to 2,000 people with a physical/sensory disability and 2.6 million hours of Home Support to 7,300 people with a range of disabilities. The provision of Personal Assistant services has an annual cost of €30 million, with an annual cost of €52 million for Home Support Services.
As the Deputy's question relates to service matters, I have arranged for the question to be referred to the Health Service Executive (HSE) for direct reply to the Deputy. If the Deputy has not received a reply from the HSE within 15 working days, the Deputy can contact my Private Office and they will follow the matter up with the HSE.
620. Deputy Billy Kelleher asked the Minister for Health the percentage occupancy rate in public residential care units for the most recent calendar month available and for the previous eleven months, in tabular form. [23951/16]
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.
