Written Answers Nos. 112-126
112. Deputy Aindrias Moynihan asked the Minister for Health when additional funding will be made available to an organisation (details supplied); the engagement that he has had with the Minister for Education to progress the service level agreement or other oversight arrangement in place for this organisation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37652/22]
View answer115. Deputy Aindrias Moynihan asked the Minister for Health if his attention has been drawn to the shortfall of funding for an organisation (details supplied); the measures that are being considered to ensure that full service is available for this organisation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37653/22]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 112 and 115 together.
As the issues raised are a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.
113. Deputy James Lawless asked the Minister for Health the number of persons currently awaiting a psychology appointment in primary care in each LHO area in CHO7; the number of these waiting for over a year; the way that this compares to the end of 2021 in each LHO area and each category; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37468/22]
View answerAs this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.
114. Deputy Neale Richmond asked the Minister for Health the steps that he is taking to ensure that there are sufficient beds and residential accommodation available for persons with disabilities that want to live outside of the family home; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37485/22]
View answerWork on the Disability Services Action Plan has examined the need for additional residential places over the next three years in the light of the findings of the Disability Capacity Review to 2032. There is a considerable backlog of unmet needs, alongside the growth in numbers requiring residential care due to demographic changes where more older people with disabilities are living with elderly parents. The Disability Action Plan is in the process of being finalised.
The scale of emergency residential care needs as assessed by the HSE has meant that in recent years, most new residential care provision has gone to meet such needs, with little scope for planned moves before situations reach an emergency point. To begin to refocus towards planned provision, budget 2022 has provided funding for a pilot project on planned residential care provision. This is a joint project between the Brothers of Charity and Ability West in CHO4, which will provide for 32 people to move in a planned way to a home of their own.
HSE Disability Services provide a wide range of supports to those with physical, sensory, intellectual disability whose needs cannot be met by mainstream services or at primary care level.
Residential services are provided according to the needs and requirements of the individuals through a range of housing types from congregated settings to individual supports to people who may live semi-independently.
There are approximately 90 service providers providing residential services to more than 8,300 individuals throughout the country. It should be noted that people accessing residential services are not a homogenous group but have hugely differing and changing needs.
The 2022 National Service Plan
The HSE’s residential services seek to support individuals in a person-centred way in community settings.
In the 2022 National Service Plan, the HSE plans to provide a range of residential supports creating 106 additional places and packages in response to current and demographic need. Specifically, the planned breakdown of investment is: 50 places responding to priority needs, 36 planned residential places, 10 supported living places and 10 intensive home support packages to support transitions and discharges from acute services and the National Rehabilitation Hospital.
The HSE aims to provide 143 people with a disability living in congregated settings with more person-centred homes in the community. A budget of €5 million in funding has been allocated toward this.
The 2022 National Service Plan has also provided for €5.5m in funding to support a further 63 people to move from nursing home settings to homes of their choosing in the community.
116. Deputy Rose Conway-Walsh asked the Minister for Health if he will provide an update on the average emergency department waiting times in Mayo University Hospital; the steps that he is taking to improve the situation including the delivery of a new emergency department at the hospital; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37686/22]
View answerThe HSE have advised that Mayo University Hospital is dealing with a significant increase in COVID-19 positive patients, while also seeing very high numbers of attendances through the Emergency Department. From January 2022 to the end of June 2022 the average wait time in the ED in MUH was 6.7 hours.
MUH are utilising the unit that was used exclusively for Covid for other ED attendances which will help improve the wait time for patients. The present changes in the Covid streaming is also having an immediate positive impact for the patients presenting to the ED by ambulance.
On the 9th of May, the hospital opened the Acute Medical Assessment Unit (AMAU) which will ensure appropriate patients are transferred from the ED. GPs will also be able to refer patients directly to the AMAU rather than the ED.
The hospital are currently recruiting nursing staff to open 6 additional medical beds in St John’s ward in the Sacred Heart Hospital which will improve patient flow and reduce wait times for patients in MUH ED.
Quality improvement meetings are taking place with consultants, senior nursing staff and hospital management ensuring all opportunities for improvement are maximised.
A capital submission in relation to a proposed new extension to the existing emergency department at MUH was received by the HSE from the Saolta hospital group and the local capital and estates office in January 2021. The project has been included in the HSE capital plan 2022 to progress to the design phase of the project.
The HSE have confirmed that the design team has since been appointed and initial surveys and design work have commenced in preparation for the preliminary business case which will be prepared in line with public spending code. Given the early stage reached into design and planning of the project it is not possible to provide specific project details or timeline at this point.
In addition, I have requested that the HSE set out short-term immediate actions to alleviate the pressure on EDs, including in MUH, and to ensure that our hospitals are ready for winter. I also requested the development of a longer-term plan for reform and improvement of unscheduled care, in line with expected increases in demand driven by population growth and an aging population. This plan will build on the substantial investment over the past two years in initiatives such as additional capacity, more staff, increased home care packages and greater GP access to diagnostics.
117. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Health the number of claims notified or the proceedings that have been issued against CervicalCheck regarding the alleged misreading of smear tests in each of the past five years and to date in 2022 (details supplied); the number of claims which came from women affected by the scandal; the number which were from the families surviving women who died allegedly as a result of the misreading of smear tests (details supplied); and the number of claims received by the CervicalCheck Tribunal. [37589/22]
View answerThe State Claims Agency (SCA) has a statutory remit to manage personal injury claims, including claims in respect of clinical negligence, on behalf of Delegated State Authorities (DSAs) including the Health Service Executive.
I have been informed by the SCA that the information contained within the attached document was extracted from the National Incident Management System (NIMS) as per the criteria below.
Criteria used Question 1- Claims received between 01/01/2017 to 30/06/2022.
Question 2- Date Proceedings served between 01/01/2017 to 30/06/2022.
Question 4- Claims received between 01/01/2017 to 30/06/2022.- Incident Hazard Category equals ‘Clinical Care’.
Question 5- Claims received between 01/01/2017 to 30/06/2022.- Incident Hazard Category equals ’Exposure to Psychological hazards’- Sub Hazard type equals ‘Wrongful Death’
Question 1- Cervical Cancer NSS claims received between 2017 & 2022
|
Claim Received Year |
Number of Claims |
|
2017 |
1 |
|
2018 |
86 |
|
2019 |
52 |
|
2020 |
95 |
|
2021 |
103 |
|
2022 YTD |
22 |
|
Grand Total |
359 |
Table 1: Claims received between 01/01/2017 & 30/06/2022
Question 2 - Cervical Cancer NSS claims with proceedings served between 2017 & 2022
The table below reflects claims where proceedings have been served by plaintiffs from 2017 to 2022 YTD. Proceedings may be issued by a plaintiff but not served by their solicitor and the SCA would not necessarily be aware of these proceedings without a specific courts’ search. This differs to the previous PQ response that was issued to the Deputy in 2021.
Table 2: Claims with proceedings Served between 01/01/2017 & 30/06/2022
|
Date Proceedings Served |
Number of Claims |
|
2017 |
1 |
|
2018 |
51 |
|
2019 |
33 |
|
2020 |
69 |
|
2021 |
60 |
|
2022 YTD |
6 |
|
Grand Total |
220 |
Question 3 - The details of these cases
The State Claims Agency does not comment on the detail of individual cases.
Question 4 - The number of claims which came from women affected
286 claims from women regarding the alleged misreading of their smear tests have been received by the State Claims Agency between 01/01/2017 and 30/06/2022.
Question 5 - The number which were from the families surviving women who died allegedly as a result of the misreading of smear tests
40 claims have been received by the State Claims Agency between 01/01/2017 and 30/06/2022 from the family members surviving women who died allegedly as a result of the misreading of smear tests.
Question 6 - The number of claims received by the CervicalCheck Tribunal
The number of claims before the CervicalCheck Tribunal is 22.
Definitions: National Incident Management System (NIMS): Incidents (which include claims) are reported using the “National Incident Management System”. This is hosted by the State Claims Agency (SCA) for the HSE, other Healthcare enterprises and State Authorities. An incident can be a harmful Incident (Adverse Event), no harm incident, near miss, dangerous occurrence (reportable circumstance) or complaint.
Claim: A claim refers to notification of intention to seek compensation for personal injury and/or property damage where it is alleged the State was negligent. The application may be in the form of a letter of claim, an InjuriesBoard.ie application, or a written/oral request.
Type of Mass Injury: Lists the mass action injury suffered.
Claim Received Year: Official date that the claim was received on NIMS.
Date Proceedings Served: Date that the proceedings were served.
Incident/Hazard Category: The incident/hazard category is a High level classification used to describe the cause of an incident. This is based on international recognised hazard classifications, but which has been further developed to denote hazards that can have a direct or indirect impact on a person or property. This High-level classification is a grouping together of like type hazards which are broken down in further detail in the sub-hazard type. The High-level hazards include “Clinical Care”, “Exposure to Physical Hazards”, “Exposure to Psychological Hazards”, “Exposure to Chemical Hazards”, “Exposure to Biological Hazards”, “Crash/Collision” and “Property damage/loss (non-crash collision)”.
Sub-hazard Category: Based on the Incident/Hazard Category selected, this grouping will provide a further breakdown of hazard types so that more specific detail can be recorded.
118. Deputy Maurice Quinlivan asked the Minister for Health the steps that are being taken to address the shortage of non-consultant hospital doctors at University Hospital Limerick; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37471/22]
View answerAs this is an operational matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.
119. Deputy Fergus O'Dowd asked the Minister for Health if he will order an inquiry into the circumstances of all Covid-19 deaths at a healthcare setting (details supplied); and the number of persons who died at the setting in 2020. [37651/22]
View answerI appreciate that the Deputy has raised this matter on a number of occasions, through various formats, on behalf of those families who lost loved ones in the early months of the pandemic.
I must reiterate that the position remains that the Department of the Taoiseach are considering options for a comprehensive evaluation of how the country managed COVID-19. This evaluation will provide an opportunity to learn lessons from our experiences in dealing with a pandemic over the past two years. This will help ensure that we are in a better, stronger position if another pandemic or another similar type of emergency arrives.
I recognise how difficult it has been for the families of nursing home residents who died during this pandemic, which has presented one of the greatest and most wide-ranging public health challenges internationally in recent history. Throughout the pandemic, the overall national response to COVID-19 has had a specific and sustained focus on older persons, particularly those resident in nursing homes.
This included the establishment of a structured nursing home support system, in line with National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) recommendations, to provide enhanced supports to public and private nursing homes. A comprehensive package of direct and indirect supports was established in early 2020 and many of these remain active across the country to support nursing homes on a proactive basis.
In addition, the independent COVID-19 Nursing Homes Expert Panel was established early in the pandemic in May 2020 to examine the complex issues surrounding the management of COVID-19 in nursing homes and to provide real-time learnings and recommendations to inform the ongoing response.
One of the most important things we can take from the sadness, illness, and death experienced over the last two years is our learning and understanding of the challenges facing the nursing home sector. Through engagement with key stakeholders in the nursing home sector, including residents, their families and advocacy groups, we are committed to implementing the recommendations of the Nursing Homes Expert Panel and a programme of reform is ongoing across health agencies and stakeholders to ensure an improved quality of service and experience for residents into the future.
120. Deputy Jennifer Murnane O'Connor asked the Minister for Health if he will report on the provision of a new ambulance base in Carlow; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37461/22]
View answerI am informed by the Health Service Executive (HSE) that the National Ambulance Service (NAS) is planning a replacement for the current facility in Carlow and that a greenfield site has been identified and is under consideration.
I have asked the HSE to respond to the Deputy directly with any further detail that it may have in the matter.
122. Deputy Róisín Shortall asked the Minister for Health if he will provide an update on plans to introduce a cap on the maximum daily charge for car parking for patients and visitors at public hospitals as outlined in the Programme for Government; the timeline that he is working towards for implementation of this commitment; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37489/22]
View answerI am aware that hospitals that charge parking fees are very cognisant of the financial implications of parking costs for patients and their families, particularly for those with long-term illnesses.
Consequently, some hospitals have introduced a maximum daily fixed parking charge and reduced rate parking for long-term patients and visitors for whom the payment of the full rate would cause hardship.
The Programme for Government makes a commitment to introduce a cap on the maximum daily charge for patients and visitors at all public hospitals, where possible and to introduce flexible passes in all public hospitals for patients and their families. I am very aware of the financial burden this issue can cause some patients and families. Accordingly, my Department and the HSE are currently examining the issue.
123. Deputy John McGuinness asked the Minister for Health the way that it is proposed to address the current challenges that people are experiencing securing consultations with psychiatrists; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37511/22]
View answerAs this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond directly to the Deputy as soon as possible.
124. Deputy Thomas Gould asked the Minister for Health the average wait time in July 2022 in the emergency department of each of the Cork hospitals. [37506/22]
View answerThe primary metric for monitoring Emergency Department (ED) Wait Times is “Patient Experience Time” (PET). In the tables for Cork University Hospital and Mercy University Hospital enclosed, the Median ED PETs by age cohort for the month of June 2022 as per the available date are listed. These median PETs account for both patients that are subsequently admitted from the ED to a ward and those that are discharged. Please note that we do not have data for July 2022 as requested at this stage.
To calculate the average PET across all age cohorts, a weighted average PET for June 2022 has been calculated using the total ED attendances for each age cohort. For CUH it is 7.94 hours, and for MUH it is 7.01 hours. These averages represent a marked improvement over the May 2022 average of 10.60 hours and 9.20 hours respectively, however, it is important to note that the June PETs are currently provisional pending national validation.
The HSE advised that May 2022 was a challenging month for Cork Hospitals with regard to ED wait times and significant work has been undertaken by the Hospitals in conjunction with the South/South West Hospital Group to address the situation. This has involved a cooperation with Cork/Kerry Community Healthcare to improve discharging and promote alternative care pathways, and engagement with the National Ambulance Service to in relation to the volume of ambulances presenting to the two Cork Emergency departments.
125. Deputy Richard Bruton asked the Minister for Health the way that the court decision striking down the preliminary assessment of children with special needs will affect the children who have been assessed and listed for therapeutic services; and the additional resource implications for the HSE to act upon the ruling. [37521/22]
View answerAs this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.
126. Deputy Duncan Smith asked the Minister for Health the status of the provision of a primary care centre for Swords, County Dublin as of July 2022; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37517/22]
View answerAs this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.
