Written Answers Nos. 1986-2001
1986. Deputy Mark Ward asked the Minister for Health the number of persons employed in the HSE pest control service in Dublin in each of the years from 2010 to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41531/22]
View answerAs this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.
1987. Deputy Mark Ward asked the Minister for Health if he will report on the number of beds in CAMHS; the number that are currently operational; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41532/22]
View answerAs this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond directly to the Deputy as soon as possible.
1988. Deputy Mark Ward asked the Minister for Health if he plans to appoint a national director for mental health; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41533/22]
View answerAs this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond directly to the Deputy as soon as possible.
1989. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Health the estimated annual cost of providing free contraception of their choice for all who need it, including methods of contraception used by men such as condoms and vasectomies; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41542/22]
View answerThe Programme for Government 2020 commits to providing free contraception for women, starting with the 17-25 age cohort. My Department has been working with partners, including the HSE, towards ensuring that the scheme will commence in late August or early September 2022. Funding of approximately €9m has been allocated for this in Budget 2022.
The scheme will be open to all 17-25 year-old women ordinarily resident in Ireland and will provide for:
- The cost of prescription contraception;
- The cost of necessary consultations with medical professionals to discuss suitable contraception for individual patients and to enable prescription of same;
- The cost of fitting and/or removal of various types of long-acting reversible contraception (LARCs) plus any necessary checks, by medical professionals certified to fit/remove same;
- The cost of training and certifying additional medical professionals to fit and remove LARCs; and
- The cost of providing the wide range of contraceptive options currently available to GMS (medical) card holders, which will also be available through this scheme, including contraceptive injections, implants, IUS and IUDs (coils), the contraceptive patch and ring, and various forms of oral contraceptive pill, including emergency contraception.
The legal framework for the scheme will be provided by the Health (Miscellaneous Provisions) (No. 2) Act, 2022, which was passed by both Houses of the Oireachtas on 12th July, 2022 and signed into law by the President of Ireland on 18th July, 2022. It is envisaged that the Act will be commenced, and the scheme launched, in late August or early September, 2022, once the final details of service provision have been agreed and implemented.
Formal consultations with medical representative bodies with regard to service provision under the scheme have commenced and are ongoing. The design of citizen engagement information and publicity campaigns to support and promote the roll out of the scheme will be finalised in the coming weeks by officials in the Department’s Press and Communications Team, the HSE’s Communications team and relevant subject matter experts.
In terms of considering the expansion of the scheme to wider age cohorts, it is recommended by the Public Expenditure Code that policy changes with significant Exchequer cost implications should be phased in and/or be subject to piloting and formal evaluation, before full roll out. This is particularly pertinent in the case of schemes, such as this one, which are demand-led.
Full year costings for 17-25 year-olds may be considered in the context of Estimates 2023, but no costings have been finalised to date; funding allocations for future years, including 2023, will be agreed as part of standard pre-Budget processes. The full year cost of provision for 17-25 year-olds is estimated at €26m. Estimated costings for wider age ranges have been included in the Report of the Working Group on Access to Contraception, which is available on the Department’s website.
The Act contains provisions that the eligible age cohort may be changed by the Minister for Health, subject to the agreement of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, by Regulation.
In relation to extending the age cohort specifically to girls under the age of 17, it is important to note that the Act provides that such an extension cannot be completed under regulations, meaning such an extension of the scheme would require a legislative amendment to be brought before the Oireachtas. I gave a commitment in both Dáil Éireann and Seanad Éireann that inclusion of younger age cohort would be considered by my Department, subject to Government approval, as soon as the Act has been commenced and the initial phase of the scheme launched.
The free contraception scheme for women aged 17-25 will remove cost barriers to prescription contraception, for women and other people for whom prescription contraception is deemed clinically suitable. Some access to free condoms is already separately enabled, through the National Condom Distribution Service (NCDS), which was established by the HSE Sexual Health and Crisis Pregnancy Programme (SHCPP) in October 2015.
The NCDS functions as a central point for distributing free condoms and lubricant sachets to HSE services and other organisations working with individuals and groups at increased risk of negative sexual health outcomes. The service was extended to 3rd level institutions in late 2019. Third-level institutions can now order condom dispensers from the HSE, which enable the provision of free condoms and sexual health information to students on campuses nationwide.
Between Jan-Dec 2020 445,658 condoms were ordered from the NCDS. Numbers ordered in 2020 were lower than previous years due to COVID. Since being established in 2015, over 2 Million condoms have been ordered by services registered with the NCDS.
While prescription contraception can be more effective at preventing pregnancy, condoms provide protection against STIs that is not provided by non-barrier forms of contraception. It is envisaged that continued expansion of the NCDS will be facilitated in line with demand, in order to support the STI prevention and sexual health promotion needs of people living in Ireland.
Sterilisation methods include tubal ligation or sterilisation implants for women and vasectomy for men. The efficiency of LARCs is now very close to that of sterilisation (around 99% for implants, intrauterine systems and devices (the coil) and sterilisations); needless to say, LARCs have lower risks of long-term side effects and are quickly reversible.
Therefore, sterilisation was not considered in depth as an option by the Working Group on Access to Contraception. Complications experienced by a minority of patients, associated with both tubal ligations and with vasectomies. Reversal of both can be requested by up to 10% of patients, where family circumstances change; this requires surgery that can be more complex than the original procedure and success rates for reversals are not 100%.
1990. Deputy John Brady asked the Minister for Health the number of adolescents with special and complex needs who have just completed secondary school in County Wicklow in 2022; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41543/22]
View answerI wish to advise the Deputy that secondary school leavers are a matter for the Department of Education.
1991. Deputy John Brady asked the Minister for Health the number of adolescents with special needs who have just completed secondary school and now been referred to another disability service for further education; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41544/22]
View answer1992. Deputy John Brady asked the Minister for Health the number of adolescents with special needs who have just completed secondary school and await placement and or funding approval to be referred to another disability service for further education; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41545/22]
View answer1993. Deputy John Brady asked the Minister for Health the number of referrals made to a service (details supplied) in 2021 and to date in 2022; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41546/22]
View answer1994. Deputy John Brady asked the Minister for Health the number of referrals that have been made to a service (details supplied) in 2021 and to date in 2022; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41547/22]
View answer1995. Deputy John Brady asked the Minister for Health the number of referrals that have been made to a service (details supplied) in 2021 and to date in 2022; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41548/22]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 1991 to 1995, inclusive, together.
As the Deputy's questions relate to service issues, they have been referred to the HSE for direct reply.
1996. Deputy Patricia Ryan asked the Minister for Health if he will report on planned works at the Monasterevin day care centre; when it is expected to re-open; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41568/22]
View answerAs this is an operational matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.
1997. Deputy John Brady asked the Minister for Health the status of a new primary care centre (details supplied); the estimated timeframe for completion; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41582/22]
View answerAs this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.
1998. Deputy John Brady asked the Minister for Health if he will provide a list of the services that will be provided in a new primary care centre (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41583/22]
View answerAs this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.
1999. Deputy Róisín Shortall asked the Minister for Health if he intends to begin a vaccination campaign against monkeypox for those most at risk of contracting the virus; if the National Immunisation Advisory Committee is considering doing so; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41586/22]
View answerThe immunisation programme in Ireland is based on the advice of the National Immunisation Advisory Committee. NIAC makes recommendations on vaccination policy to the Department of Health based on the prevalence of the relevant disease in Ireland and international best practices in relation to immunisation.
The HSE is currently administering vaccines in line with NIAC advice of 27 May 2022.
On 22 July 2022, the National Immunisation Advisory Committee (NIAC) made further recommendations on monkeypox immunisation following a request by my Department. In its recommendations which have been endorsed by the interim Chief Medical Officer (CMO) and I have accepted, NIAC recommended the following in addition to its previous recommendations:
- Pre-exposure prophylactic vaccination should be offered to those at high risk of infection e.g., gay, bisexual, men who have sex with men (gbMSM) and others at high risk of unprotected exposure; and
- Two doses of smallpox vaccine should be administered 28 days apart to as many high-risk individuals as soon as practicable.
The HSE will now work to develop a plan to operationalise these new recommendations in relation to monkeypox vaccination.
2000. Deputy David Cullinane asked the Minister for Health further to Parliamentary Question No. 606 of 5 July 2022, the number of staff who worked in excess of 24 hours at each HSE statutory hospital (details supplied) in answering the question in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41594/22]
View answerAs this is a service matter I have asked the HSE to reply directly to the Deputy with the data sought as soon as possible.
2001. Deputy David Cullinane asked the Minister for Health further to Parliamentary Question No. 612 of 5 July 2022, the reason that the HSE does not have a mechanism to detail the costs associated with the extension in use of certain drugs to new indications, new uses by way of comparison of diagnostic information data with its reimbursement systems. [41618/22]
View answerUnder the Health (Pricing and Supply of Medical Goods) Act 2013, the HSE has statutory responsibility for the administration of the community drug schemes. Therefore, the matter has been referred to the HSE for attention and direct reply to the Deputy.
