Tuesday, 12 Oct 2021

Home Help Service

Questions (486)

Michael Healy-Rae

Question:

486. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Health if home help will be arranged in the case of a person (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [49186/21]

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Written answers

Minister of State at the Department of Health (Deputy Mary Butler)

As this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to the Deputy directly as soon as possible.

Health Services

Questions (487)

Rose Conway-Walsh

Question:

487. Deputy Rose Conway-Walsh asked the Minister for Health the steps that are being taken to improve transport services from rural areas to designated cancer centres for scheduled day case treatments; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [49191/21]

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Written answers

Minister for Health

The HSE's National Cancer Control Programme (NCCP) advises that there are two services administered by the Irish Cancer Society that support patients in travelling for cancer treatment.

The Volunteer Driver Service is a volunteer-delivered service to drive patients to and from treatment in designated partner hospitals and centres. The service is free to the patient, with all costs covered by the Irish Cancer Society, upon referral by a healthcare professional in a partnered hospital.

The Travel2Care Scheme is a limited transportation assistance fund, funded by the NCCP. This is available to patients travelling to a designated cancer centre, approved centres, or an approved children’s hospital. It is administered by the Irish Cancer Society and supports people who have financial difficulties in meeting the costs of travelling for appointments.

More broadly, funding provided to the health services is focused on meeting the direct health needs of patients, and promoting good health more generally.

Legislative Measures

Questions (488)

Ivana Bacik

Question:

488. Deputy Ivana Bacik asked the Minister for Health the status of the human tissue (transplantation, post-mortem, anatomical examination and public display) Bill; and his plans to progress it through the Houses of the Oireachtas. [49195/21]

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Written answers

Minister for Health

The enactment of the Human Tissue (Transplantation, Post-Mortem, Anatomical Examination and Public Display) Bill is a priority for the Government. Work on the drafting of the Bill in collaboration with the Office of Parliamentary Council is progressing with a view to ensuring that Government approval is secured to publish the Bill before the end of 2021. It is hoped that the Bill will then be progressed through the Houses of the Oireachtas.

Hospital Waiting Lists

Questions (489)

Ivana Bacik

Question:

489. Deputy Ivana Bacik asked the Minister for Health his plans to reduce waiting lists for heart, lung, kidney, liver or pancreas transplants. [49196/21]

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Written answers

Minister for Health

Transplantation remains the only available treatment for heart, lung and liver end stage kidney failure. The gap between the supply and demand of organs available for transplantation is continually growing due to medical advances and reduced traumatic deaths. Covid-19 has significantly curtailed transplant activity during 2020 and 2021. Donations and transplants were impacted by the demands placed on intensive care units, the at-risk status of transplant patients, and the need to redeploy key donation staff to support Covid-19 hospital care in our hospitals.

Continued investment is required to continue to develop organ donation and transplant services and infrastructure and reduce organ transplant waiting lists. An additional €1.25m has been provided for organ donation and transplant services since 2020. Additional funding of €0.5m was provided in 2020, including €0.214m for the purchase of necessary equipment to improve the donation process. A further €0.750m in additional funding was provided in 2021 to further develop organ donation and transplant services.

The objective of this additional investment is improve organ donation rates, facilitate the move to increase deceased cardiac donations and allow for the expansion of the criteria for acceptable donor donations. This investment is particularly important to meet the expected additional demands on transplant services following the introduction of the Human Tissue (Transplantation, Post-Mortem, Anatomical Examination and Public Display) legislation, including the introduction of and opt-out system of organ donation.

The drafting of the Human Tissue (Transplantation, Post-Mortem, Anatomical Examination and Public Display) Bill is a priority for the Government. My Department is progressing work on the drafting of the Bill in collaboration with the Office of Parliamentary Council with a view to ensuring that Government approval is secured to publish the Bill before the end of 2021. It is hoped that the Bill will then be progressed through the Houses of the Oireachtas.

Covid-19 Pandemic

Questions (490)

Ivana Bacik

Question:

490. Deputy Ivana Bacik asked the Minister for Health if his Department has developed contingency plans to ensure that services for conditions such as COPD, cystic fibrosis and lung fibrosis are protected in the event of an upsurge in Covid-19 infections. [49197/21]

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Written answers

Minister for Health

As this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.

Departmental Strategies

Questions (491)

Ivana Bacik

Question:

491. Deputy Ivana Bacik asked the Minister for Health the status of his plans to appoint a senior official to manage liaison regarding the rare disease plan (details supplied). [49198/21]

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Written answers

Minister for Health

In 2020, the Department of Health underwent significant reconfiguration to respond to the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic. Over the coming months the Department will be reorganised to meet health system priorities and this will be considered as part of that process.

In late 2020, the National Clinical Programme for Rare Diseases was operationalised and incorporated into the National Rare Disease Office. So, from 01 September 2020, the NRDO became the main contact point and driver for national HSE rare disease projects and initiatives. The work of the NRDO is overseen and governed by HSE Acute Operations under the governance of the Office of the Chief Clinical Officer, where the National Rare Disease Plan is firmly embedded.

Meetings to ensure that the input and the voice of the patient is represented in the ongoing work in relation to Rare Diseases, took place at regular intervals with the Rare Disease Task Force, the HSE National Clinical Programme for Rare Diseases and the Rare Disease Office. Continuing this practice, earlier this year (2021) I met with the HSE, the NRDO and The Rare Disease Taskforce and a very fruitful discussion was held regarding priority areas for the future in order to build on the significant progress made to date in implementing the Rare Disease Plan. A number, of key themes for inclusion in a roadmap for the coming period have been agreed.

Departmental Contracts

Questions (492)

Carol Nolan

Question:

492. Deputy Carol Nolan asked the Minister for Health if he or any official from his Department has held meetings or conducted correspondence with a company (details supplied) from 1 January 2017 to date; if his Department has engaged the services of the company for any purposes from 1 January 2017 to date; if so, the nature of such services and the costs incurred; if a tender process was conducted; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [49211/21]

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Written answers

Minister for Health

COVID-19 emerged as a new disease in Dec 2019, at that time there was no vaccine or viral therapy treatment available. Towards the end of last year, the welcome news that COVID-19 vaccines would soon be available gave all of us a tangible ray of hope and a pathway out of the pandemic.

Vaccines are a proven, cost-effective intervention to protect public health, second only to the provision of clean water. Worldwide, they save at least 2-3 million lives each year – and many more from crippling and lifelong illnesses.

COVID-19 vaccines were made possible by the unprecedented levels of scientific research and collaboration, investment, and early and proactive engagement between vaccine developers and regulators helped speed up development and ensured that quality, safety and effectiveness were not compromised.

The ongoing COVID-19 Vaccination communications and engagement strategy undertaken by my Department and the HSE had two main objectives. The first was preparing for the vaccine, emphasising the safety and regulatory processes that continue to take place in Ireland, Europe and across the world, engaging with people who have genuine hesitancies around the vaccine and communicating the Government Plan from acquisition to prioritisation to distribution. The second objective focussed on the implementation of the vaccine programme – encouraging the public to get the vaccine, informing them who will administer it and where, identifying people of trust to act as ambassadors for the vaccine and addressing emerging mis and disinformation themes relating to the COVID-19 vaccine.

This work was supplemented by the work of Kinzen, a company engaged by my Department in early 2021 to monitor the online dissemination of mis and disinformation relating to COVID-19 and COVID-Vaccines.

Kinzen produced a daily report of mis and disinformation topics and trends provided to my Department and the HSE, supported by a weekly meeting involving my officials and officials from the HSE to discuss current themes.

This enabled my Department to work with public health doctors to address the mis and disinformation and direct the public to official sources of information, such as the Department’s own website, the COVID-19 Data Hub and the HSE’s website. The HSE also undertakes considerable social media advertising campaigns in order to promote public health guidelines, advice and vaccine uptake across platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. The partnership with Kinzen allowed my Department and the HSE to target communications messages in a given week to support vaccine uptake and address emerging genuine concerns and questions the public may have had.

Due to the extreme urgency brought about by the unforeseen circumstances pertaining to the global pandemic, the widespread dissemination of vaccine mis and disinformation, and the speed with which Ireland’s COVID-19 Vaccination Programme was rolled out, it was necessary to procure this service outside of normal tendering processing. As of Friday, 08 October, my Department and the HSEs work with Kinzen has been completed.

To date, my Department has spent €78,000 EXvat on this service.

As of 8th October, 91.1% of those aged 16 years and over have received at least one dose of vaccine and 89.6% are fully vaccinated. As of 8th October, 91.5% of those aged 18 years and over have received at least one dose with 80.1% fully vaccinated.

Departmental Contracts

Questions (493)

Carol Nolan

Question:

493. Deputy Carol Nolan asked the Minister for Health if the HSE has held meetings or conducted correspondence with a company (details supplied) from 1 January 2017 to date; if the HSE has engaged the services of the company for any purposes from 1 January 2017 to date; if so, the nature of such services and the costs incurred; if a tender process was conducted; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [49212/21]