Written Answers Nos. 443-464
443. Deputy Carol Nolan asked the Minister for Health the number of staff employed by Tullamore hospital, broken down into each grade and hospital department, over each of the past ten years in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31850/16]
View answerAs this is a service matter, I have asked the HSE to respond to the Deputy directly.
444. Deputy Carol Nolan asked the Minister for Health the amount of money spent on agency staff over each of the past ten years in Tullamore hospital; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31851/16]
View answerAs this is a service matter, I have asked the HSE to respond to the Deputy directly.
445. Deputy Carol Nolan asked the Minister for Health the funding allocated across each county over each of the past ten years for home help hours; the number of hours allocated by county; the number of hours remaining to be allocated by county; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31853/16]
View answerAs this is a service matter it has been referred to the Health Service Executive for direct reply.
446. Deputy Carol Nolan asked the Minister for Health the specific measures contained in budget 2017 with respect to the provision of respite services; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31854/16]
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.
The Programme for Partnership Government states that the Government wishes to provide more accessible respite care to facilitate full support for people with a disability.
The Government currently provides funding of €1.56 billion to the Disability Services Programme. Budget 2017 includes an increased allocation to the Disability Services Programme to address a number of key priorities in the Programme for Partnership Government. Including the additional funding of €31m secured earlier this year, the allocation for disability services will rise to over €1.654bn in 2017, an increase of €92 million on the Budget 2016 allocation.
The quantum of respite services to be provided will be outlined in the Health Service Executive's (HSE) National Service Plan for 2017, which is currently being prepared by the Executive.
As the Deputy's question relates to service matters, I have arranged for the question to be referred to the HSE for direct reply to the Deputy.
447. Deputy Carol Nolan asked the Minister for Health the amount of money that has been allocated under budget 2017 for the provision of home help packages; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31855/16]
View answerI am pleased to say that overall funding for services for older people has increased to €765 million in 2017 - an increase of €82 million since the HSE's 2016 Service Plan. This has focused on additional funding for homecare in particular and is aimed at allowing people to continue to live in their own homes and at facilitating discharge of older people from acute hospitals.
Since the Government took Office, we have significantly increased the funding available for homecare. An additional €40m (including €10m as part of the forthcoming Winter initiative) already provided in 2016 represented an increase of over 13% in the total funding available, and means that the number of Home Care Packages provided this year will increase from 15,450 to 15,800 and home help hours from 10.4 million to 10.57 million.
The Winter Initiative will also provide another €1.4m for homecare this year which will provide a further 650 Packages by year's end. These will be targeted at 10 specific hospitals to allow people to be discharged home quickly. Over 2016 the number of Home care Packages being provided will have increased by 1,000.
In 2017, €14.6m of the Winter Initiative will be to fund homecare, and there will be another €3.8m to maintain existing levels of service and €10m for new developments. Details of the services to be provided with these funds will be set out in the coming weeks in the forthcoming HSE 2017 National Service Plan.
448. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Health if he will consider awarding medical cards to victims of institutional abuse who have been awarded compensation by the redress board; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31861/16]
View answerAs part of a support package, including a range of financial payments, that was approved by Government for former residents of Magdalen Laundries, eligibility for health services for the Magdalen women is provided by the Redress for Women Resident in Certain Institutions Act 2015. The Act sets out the primary and community health services made available, free of charge, to qualifying women. The health services included in the legislation are: a general practitioner service; prescribed drugs, medicines, aids and appliances; dental, ophthalmic and aural services; home nursing; home support; chiropody; physiotherapy; and counselling services. In addition, the prescription fee is not be payable for all medicines, medical devices or other medical products that are reimbursed by the community drug schemes. A specific card has been issued to the qualifying women so that they can access the health services they require without charge, as set out in the Act.
There are no proposals at present to extend automatic eligibility to other victims of institutional abuse.
However, where there are people with medical needs it is important that they should be able to access necessary assistance in a straight forward manner. It is clear greater discretion is being exercised by the HSE because the number of discretionary medical cards in circulation has increased from about 52,000 in mid-2014 to over 110,453 as of 1 September this year.
449. Deputy Josepha Madigan asked the Minister for Health his plans to introduce a mandate for cancer research into the national cancer control programme, which should be a key component of the national cancer strategy; if not, the reason; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31863/16]
View answerA new National Cancer Strategy for the period 2016 to 2025 is nearing finalisation and it is envisaged that it will be brought to Government before the end of the year.
The area of cancer research has been examined in the development of this strategy and a number of recommendations related to research are envisaged.
450. Deputy James Browne asked the Minister for Health if he will provide for each year from 2012 to 2016 the increased funding announced for mental health in line with the programme for Government commitment; and the amount of that funding for each calendar year that was actually drawn down or spent on mental health services in each calendar year in tabular form. [31871/16]
View answerThe last Government provided additional ring-fenced mental health funding of €160 million over 2012 - 16 inclusive. On a year-by-year basis, however, the HSE mental health budget has also been subject to restrictions which have applied to health expenditure generally, including downward adjustments for public service pay reductions and procurement savings similar to other HSE service areas. In addition, unspent development funds due to recruitment restrictions in 2013 and 2014 were either returned to the Exchequer or used to meet unavoidable costs in other areas. In total, taking account of the various movements, an additional €115 million increase in the Mental Health budget is identified in the HSE Service Plans between 2012 and 2016 inclusive. This is a very significant increase having regard to the constraints on general health spending over the period.
The overall gross non-capital HSE National Service Plan mental health budget for 2012 – 16 is as follows:
|
Allocation |
2012 |
2013 |
2014 |
2015 |
2016 |
Total |
|
€711m |
€737m |
€766m |
€791.8m |
€826.6m |
||
|
PfG allocation |
€35m |
€35m |
€20m |
€35m |
€35m |
€160m |
|
Actual Increase |
€0 |
€26m |
€29m |
€25m |
€35m |
€115m |
In regard to the amounts of funding drawn down and spent in each calendar year, I am referring the Deputy's question to the HSE who would be better placed to provide detail on service funding matters.
451. Deputy Fiona O'Loughlin asked the Minister for Health when children for whom domiciliary care allowance is claimed will receive their medical cards; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31872/16]
View answerBudget 2017 included a commitment to provide a medical card to all children in respect of whom a Domiciliary Care Allowance (DCA) payment is made.
It is my intention to bring a proposal to Government which will allow the necessary legislation be prepared to give effect to this measure and it is my objective to have this prepared and brought before the Oireachtas as quickly as possible.
I have asked the Health Service Executive to commence the process of planning for the new arrangements, so that they can be implemented in a smooth and efficient manner.
452. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Minister for Health the amount of funding which has been ring-fenced in budget 2017 for clinical cancer trials here; the amount of this funding which has been allocated to Letterkenny University Hospital; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31873/16]
View answerSince 2005, the Health Research Board (HRB), a statutory agency under the aegis of my Department, has invested approximately €53m in the development of a network of cancer clinical trials in hospitals across Ireland.
The HRB funding is provided to Clinical Trials Ireland (CTI) to support clinical trials at hospital sites, as well as the CTI Group Central Office and a Statistics and Data Management Office based in Galway. The HRB is committed to investing a further €8.995m in Clinical Trials Ireland, and €1.284m in the Statistics and Data Management Office, in the three years from 2016 to 2018. Clinical Trials Ireland decides on the allocation of funding for individual clinical trials in hospitals.
453. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for Health if the recent complaint by a centre (details supplied) regarding maladministration at the European Medicines Agency, EMA, in regard to a drug has been noted by his Department; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31879/16]
View answerThe HPV vaccine, which was introduced in 2010, protects girls from cervical cancer when they are adults. It is available free of charge from the HSE for all girls in the first year of secondary school. Each year in Ireland around 300 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer and there are approximately 70 deaths per year. The HPV vaccine protects against two high risk types of HPV that cause 73% of all cervical cancers.
I am aware of claims of an association between HPV vaccination and a number of conditions experienced by a group of young women. I want to provide assurances to these young women and their families that they are eligible to seek medical attention and to access appropriate health and social care services, irrespective of the cause of their symptoms. The HSE are currently developing a care pathway for young people who are experiencing these types of symptoms and will be in a position to facilitate access to specialist services tailored to the needs of each individual.
It appears that some girls first suffered symptoms around the same time that they received the HPV vaccine, and understandably some parents have connected the vaccine to their daughter's condition.
The vaccine used in the school immunisation programme is Gardasil and over 220,000 girls have received this vaccine since its introduction. Gardasil is a fully tested vaccine which was licensed by the European Medicines Agency in 2006.
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.
In November 2015 the European Medicines Agency (EMA) completed a detailed scientific review of the HPV vaccine. The review, in which the Health Products Regulatory Authority participated, focused on two conditions, complex regional pain syndrome and postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome. The review found no evidence of a causal link between the vaccine and the two conditions. On 12 January 2016 the European Commission endorsed the conclusion of the EMA stating that there is no need to change the way HPV vaccines are used or to amend the product information which is now binding in all member states.
In relation to the issue referred to by the Deputy it concerns a complaint made by the Nordic Cochrane Centre concerning the EMA. The EMA is a decentralised agency of the European Union (EU) responsible for the scientific evaluation, supervision and safety monitoring of medicines developed by pharmaceutical companies for use in the EU. It would be inappropriate for me to comment on any complaint made by a third party concerning an EU agency.
Health care professionals are advised to continue using HPV vaccines in accordance with the current product information and I would encourage all young women to receive this important cancer preventing vaccine.
454. Deputy Gerry Adams asked the Minister for Health the status of bariatric surgery in the State; if, following the publication of A Healthy Weight for Ireland - Obesity Policy and Action Plan, there will be additional funding for such surgery; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31883/16]
View answerBariatric services are provided in three public hospitals – St Vincent's University Hospital (SVUH) in Dublin, St. Columcille's Hospital (SCH) and Galway University Hospital (GUH).
A multidisciplinary weight management clinic is run in SCH with patients requiring surgery being referred to SVUH. As at July 2016, a total of 309 patients have undergone bariatric surgery. During the course of 2016, SVUH is aiming to deliver 30 bariatric surgeries.
All patients referred to the weight management programme in SCH undergo a one year multidisciplinary programme with input from dieticians, physiotherapists and psychologists. On average 50% of those referred will subsequently require surgery. As of 26th of July 2016, a total of 304 patients have been identified by the weight management programme in SCH as requiring Bariatric Surgery.
Galway University Hospital (GUH)
GUH has increased its outpatient clinics activity (including intensive weight management, Body Mass Index (BMI), Diabetes, Vascular and Bariatric Medicine Initiative with CROI) from 2 to 4 per week, as well as an extra clinic per month. As a result as of January 2016, the waiting list has been significantly reduced.
During 2015, a total of 36 (20 public and 16 private) bariatric surgery procedures were carried out in GUH. From January to July 2016, a total of 22 bariatric surgery procedures (12 public and 10 private) were carried out in GUH.
From January to June 2016, a total of 785 patients were reviewed in outpatient clinics at GUH to June 2016 and 131 of these were new patients. As at 31 August 2016, there were 72 patients on the out-patient Bariatric Surgery waiting list.
The Obesity Policy contains 60 actions which will be implemented, monitored and evaluated. The policy acknowledges that obesity prevention services in the community as well as specialist hospital services will need to be strengthened. A key element is the appointment of a Clinical Lead for Obesity in the Health Service Executive (HSE). The allocation of increased funding to Health and Wellbeing in the HSE will reflect that Obesity is a priority for the health services and included in the HSE service plan for 2017.
455. Deputy Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin asked the Minister for Health if his attention has been drawn to the fact that the Health Products Regulatory Authority, HPRA, has said it is currently unable to enforce the European Medical Devices Directive 93/42/EEC for the provision of custom-made devices because there is no link between the EU legislation and Ireland's current dental legislation; if he will ensure that the new dental Bill will include whatever provisions are necessary for the HPRA to enforce the directive; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31884/16]
View answerMy Department is currently examining the issues raised by the Deputy.
456. Deputy Gerry Adams asked the Minister for Health the number of long-term care beds closed in County Louth; the location of each; the length of time they have been closed; and the reason they are closed. [31894/16]
View answerAs this is a service matter it has been referred to the Health Service Executive for direct reply.
457. Deputy Gerry Adams asked the Minister for Health the number of nursing vacancies that exist and across which disciplines in County Louth. [31895/16]
View answer458. Deputy Gerry Adams asked the Minister for Health the number of clinical staff and management staff, respectively, employed by the HSE in County Louth. [31896/16]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 457 and 458 together.
I have asked the HSE to respond to the Deputy directly on this matter.
459. Deputy Kathleen Funchion asked the Minister for Health the reason, after spending over €12 million on renovations to Our Lady's Hospital, Cashel, County Tipperary, wards are sitting idle with the hospital not running at full capacity; and if this was due to the elevator size as the elevator is incapable of transporting a hospital bed in accordance with HIQA regulations. [31897/16]
View answerAs this is a service matter it has been referred to the Health Service Executive for direct reply.
460. Deputy Louise O'Reilly asked the Minister for Health the exact opening date for the primary care centre in Corduff; the services that will be available when this service opens; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31898/16]
View answerAs this 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.
461. Deputy Louise O'Reilly asked the Minister for Health if the new primary care centre in Corduff will offer scans; if so, the precise type of scanning that will be available - for example, MRI, ultrasound and so on; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31899/16]
View answerAs this 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.
462. Deputy Louise O'Reilly asked the Minister for Health if there will be free parking made available for the users of the new primary care centre in Corduff; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31900/16]
View answerAs this 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.
463. Deputy Louise O'Reilly asked the Minister for Health if the new primary care centre in Corduff will offer maternity care; the specific type of care available; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31901/16]
View answerAs this 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.
464. Deputy Anne Rabbitte asked the Minister for Health if he will prioritise an operation for a person (details supplied) in County Galway as a matter of urgency in view of the fact that this person is waiting indefinitely as a high-priority case for surgery; if he will issue a date for the operation; the reason surgeons have to wait in a lottery from month to month to be able to perform surgery; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31902/16]
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 the Deputy directly.
