Written Answers Nos. 1074-1099
1074. Deputy Gerry Adams asked the Minister for Health the number of theatres operational at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda for each of the years 2011 to date in 2017; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41798/16]
View answerIn relation to the particular query raised, as this is a service matter, I have asked the HSE to respond to you directly.
1077. Deputy Gerry Adams asked the Minister for Health the number of times the full capacity protocol was initiated at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda for each of the years 2011 to date in 2017; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41801/16]
View answerIn relation to the particular query raised, as this is a service matter, I have asked the HSE to respond to you directly.
1078. Deputy Billy Kelleher asked the Minister for Health if the HSE has plans to expand a training centre (details supplied), if so, the proposed plans; if it will remain on site; the amount it will cost; the timeline involved; and the increased services that are expected to be delivered; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41803/16]
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.
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.
1079. Deputy Peter Burke asked the Minister for Health the status of an appointment in respect of a person (details supplied) [41805/16]
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.
1080. Deputy Catherine Martin asked the Minister for Health if his attention has been drawn to the fact that responsibility for delivering objective 2.1.1 of the national positive ageing strategy, relating to health education, promotion and prevention across the life cycle, is assigned to his Department; the progress made by his Department in delivering this objective; the work completed to date; and the contact there has been with other Departments or State bodies towards achieving this objective. [41818/16]
View answer1081. Deputy Catherine Martin asked the Minister for Health if his attention has been drawn to the fact that responsibility for delivering objective 2.1.2 of the national positive ageing strategy, relating to chronic disease management for persons as they age, is assigned to his Department; the progress made by his Department in delivering this objective; the work completed to date; and the contact there has been with other Departments or State bodies towards achieving this objective. [41819/16]
View answer1082. Deputy Catherine Martin asked the Minister for Health if his attention has been drawn to the fact that responsibility for delivering objective 2.1.3 of the national positive ageing strategy, relating to medication management for persons as they age, is assigned to his Department; the progress made by his Department in delivering this objective; the work completed to date; and the contact there has been with other Departments or State bodies, towards achieving this objective. [41820/16]
View answer1083. Deputy Catherine Martin asked the Minister for Health if his attention has been drawn to the fact that responsibility for delivering objectives 2.1.4 and 2.1.5 of the national positive ageing strategy, relating to tobacco and alcohol as lifestyle factors contributing to poor health as they age, are assigned to his Department; the progress made by his Department in delivering these objectives; the work completed to date; and the contact there has been with other Departments or State bodies towards achieving these objectives. [41821/16]
View answer1084. Deputy Catherine Martin asked the Minister for Health if his attention has been drawn to the fact that responsibility for delivering objective 2.1.6 of the national positive ageing strategy, relating to screening programmes for persons as they age, is assigned to his Department; the progress made by his Department in delivering this objective; the work completed to date; and the contact there has been with other Departments or State bodies, towards achieving this objective. [41822/16]
View answer1085. Deputy Catherine Martin asked the Minister for Health if his attention has been drawn to the fact that responsibility for delivering objective 2.1.7 of the national positive ageing strategy, relating to issues around mental health and mental capacity for persons as they age, is assigned to his Department; the progress made by his Department in delivering this objective; the work completed to date; and the contact there has been with other Departments or State bodies towards achieving this objective. [41823/16]
View answer1086. Deputy Catherine Martin asked the Minister for Health if his attention has been drawn to the fact that responsibility for delivering objective 2.1.8 of the national positive ageing strategy, relating to falls and fractures prevention for persons as they age, is assigned to his Department; the progress made by his Department in delivering this objective; the work completed to date; and the contact there has been with other Departments or State bodies towards achieving this objective. [41824/16]
View answer1087. Deputy Catherine Martin asked the Minister for Health if his attention has been drawn to the fact that responsibility for delivering objective 2.1.9 of the national positive ageing strategy, relating to proper nutrition for persons as they age, is assigned to his Department; the progress made by his Department in delivering this objective; the work completed to date; and the contact there has been with other Departments or State bodies towards achieving this objective. [41825/16]
View answer1088. Deputy Catherine Martin asked the Minister for Health if his attention has been drawn to the fact that responsibility for delivering objective 2.1.10 of the national positive ageing strategy, relating to supporting physical activity for persons as they age, is assigned to his Department; the progress made by his Department in delivering this objective; the work completed to date; and the contact there has been with other Departments or State bodies towards achieving this objective. [41826/16]
View answer1089. Deputy Catherine Martin asked the Minister for Health if his attention has been drawn to the fact that responsibility for delivering objective 2.1.10 of the national positive ageing strategy, relating to supporting telehealthcare and telemedicine for persons as they age, is assigned to his Department; the progress made by his Department in delivering this objective; the work completed to date; and the contact there has been with other Departments or State bodies towards achieving this objective. [41827/16]
View answer1090. Deputy Catherine Martin asked the Minister for Health if his attention has been drawn to the fact that responsibility for delivering objective 2.2.1 of the national positive ageing strategy, relating to development of the single assessment tool, is assigned to his Department; the progress made by his Department in delivering this objective; the work completed to date; and the contact there has been with other Departments or State bodies towards achieving this objective. [41828/16]
View answer1091. Deputy Catherine Martin asked the Minister for Health if his attention has been drawn to the fact that responsibility for delivering objective 2.2.2 of the national positive ageing strategy, relating to providing quality community care services for older persons, is assigned to his Department; the progress made by his Department in delivering this objective; the work completed to date; and the contact there has been with other Departments or State bodies towards achieving this objective. [41829/16]
View answer1092. Deputy Catherine Martin asked the Minister for Health if his attention has been drawn to the fact that responsibility for delivering objective 2.2.3 of the national positive ageing strategy, relating to access to and discharge from acute settings for older persons, is assigned to his Department; the progress made by his Department in delivering this objective; the work completed to date; and the contact there has been with other Departments or State bodies towards achieving this objective. [41830/16]
View answer1093. Deputy Catherine Martin asked the Minister for Health if his attention has been drawn to the fact that responsibility for delivering objective 2.2.4 of the national positive ageing strategy, relating to providing affordable residential care services for persons as they age, is assigned to his Department; the progress made by his Department in delivering this objective; the work completed to date; and the contact there has been with other Departments or State bodies towards achieving this objective. [41831/16]
View answer1094. Deputy Catherine Martin asked the Minister for Health if his attention has been drawn to the fact that responsibility for delivering objective 2.2.5 of the national positive ageing strategy, relating to end of life care and palliative care for older persons, is assigned to his Department; the progress made by his Department in delivering this objective; the work completed to date; and the contact there has been with other Departments or State bodies towards achieving this objective. [41832/16]
View answer1095. Deputy Catherine Martin asked the Minister for Health if his attention has been drawn to the fact that responsibility for delivering objective 2.2.6 of the national positive ageing strategy, relating to providing training and education for health and personal social service providers working with older persons, is assigned to his Department; the progress made by his Department in delivering this objective; the work completed to date; and the contact there has been with other Departments or State bodies towards achieving this objective. [41833/16]
View answer1096. Deputy Catherine Martin asked the Minister for Health if his attention has been drawn to the fact that responsibility for delivering objective 3.2.5 of the national positive ageing strategy, relating to assistive technologies, is assigned to his Department; the progress made by his Department in delivering this objective; the work completed to date; and the contact there has been with other Departments or State bodies towards achieving this objective. [41834/16]
View answer1097. Deputy Catherine Martin asked the Minister for Health if his attention has been drawn to the fact that responsibility for delivering objective 3.5.1 of the national positive ageing strategy, relating to implementation of national policy on elder abuse, is assigned to his Department; the progress made by his Department in delivering this objective; the work completed to date; and the contact there has been with other Departments or State bodies towards achieving this objective. [41835/16]
View answer1098. Deputy Catherine Martin asked the Minister for Health if his attention has been drawn to the fact that responsibility for delivering objective 3.5.2 of the national positive ageing strategy, relating to awareness raising on elder abuse, is assigned to his Department; the progress made by his Department in delivering this objective; the work completed to date; and the contact there has been with other Departments or State bodies towards achieving this objective. [41836/16]
View answer1099. Deputy Catherine Martin asked the Minister for Health if his attention has been drawn to the fact that responsibility for delivering objective 4.1.2 of the national positive ageing strategy, relating to the use of TILDA data by Government Departments, is assigned to his Department; the progress made by his Department in delivering this objective; the work completed to date; and the contact there has been with other Departments or State bodies towards achieving this objective. [41837/16]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 1080 to 1099, inclusive, together.
The National Positive Ageing Strategy (NPAS), published on 24 April 2013, provides a framework for cooperation to address age-related policy and service delivery across Government and society in the years ahead. The Strategy is intended to promote older people’s health and well being so that older people can continue to contribute to social, economic, cultural and family life in their own communities for as long as possible, thereby representing a vision for an age-friendly society. The Strategy highlights that ageing is not just a health issue, but rather requires a whole of Government approach to address a range of social, economic and environmental factors that affect the health and wellbeing of our ageing citizens. The Department of Health has an overall coordinating and collating role for the Strategy and a more direct role for the health-related objectives, as outlined by the Deputy.
At the launch of the Strategy, a commitment was made to publish an Implementation Plan to facilitate the translation of the Goals and Objectives of the Strategy into action on the ground. The approach to implementation originally included in the Strategy would have worked where a finite number of discrete and concrete steps could be taken after which the implementation could be deemed complete. However, many of the objectives included in this Strategy are quite broad, and can be viewed as a set of principles to which Government has committed, and which will inform policies that affect older people on an indefinite basis into the future, rather than concrete objectives that can be delivered in the short term.
The Department has therefore formulated new arrangements to implement and monitor the implementation of the National Positive Ageing Strategy. The new proposals will see mechanisms established that will give stakeholder groups effective and on-going access to Government Departments and State Agencies relevant to older people. Structures will be established for engagement between relevant Government Departments and State Agencies and relevant stakeholders on how the Strategy’s principles are being implemented. An Annual Forum for stakeholders will be established which will seek to identify what stakeholders consider to be their key priorities for the Government for the coming year and the next three years. Issues will be considered on a thematic basis and will include Health, Social Protection, Transport, Security, Community Housing and Local Government, etc. Clear channels of communications will be established with relevant Government Departments assigning a named senior official to engage with stakeholder representatives on issues relevant to their remit.
The revised arrangements were approved by the Cabinet Committee on Social Policy and Public Service Reform on 27 October, 2016. These new arrangements will now be communicated to stakeholders and arrangements made to commence implementation.
As part of the NPAS implementation process, a Healthy and Positive Ageing Initiative has been established in collaboration with the HSE’s Health and Wellbeing Programme and the Atlantic Philanthropies to measure the impact of the Strategy and establish an ongoing system for measuring and reporting on Positive Ageing. The Initiative will monitor changes in older people’s health and wellbeing linked to the Goals and Objectives of the National Positive Ageing Strategy. This will be done primarily through the development of Positive Ageing indicators to be published every two years. The Initiative is intended to provide evidence of the factors contributing to positive ageing, including at local level and ultimately inform policy responses to population ageing in Ireland. The first national Positive Ageing Indicators report was published in November 2016 and highlights many of the positive and negative aspects of growing old in Ireland.
The National Positive Ageing Strategy and the activities of the HaPAI are strongly embedded within the vision and actions set out for Healthy Ireland, the Government-led initiative which aims to create an Irish society where people of all ages can enjoy good physical and mental health, and where wellbeing is supported at every level of society. The Healthy Ireland Framework was launched in 2013 and seeks to provide people and communities with accurate information on how to improve their health and wellbeing and to make the healthy choices easier choices. Healthy Ireland takes a whole-of-Government and whole-of-society approach to improving health and wellbeing and the quality of people’s lives and a number of new structures have been put in place to ensure that all sectors of society are given opportunities to participate.
