Written Answers Nos. 116-127
116. Deputy Patricia Ryan asked the Minister for Health if he will investigate the concerning circumstances where a homecare package applied for in October 2022, has not yet been processed for a person (details supplied), and where family members have not been able to get through to the HSE department. [48887/23]
View answerAs this is an operational matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to the deputy directly, as soon as possible.
117. Deputy David Cullinane asked the Minister for Health if any patient representatives have been included in the working group on health claims costs; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48905/23]
View answerFor context, Government at its meeting on the 31st January 2023, approved the establishment of an Interdepartmental Working Group to examine the rising cost of health-related claims and consider mechanisms to reduce costs and approved the Terms of Reference and membership of the Group.
The Group is chaired independently by an expert healthcare professional, Dr Rhona Mahony and is comprised of membership from across relevant Government Departments and Agencies (Departments of Health, Justice, An Taoiseach, Finance, Public Expenditure NDP Delivery and Reform, Office of the Attorney General, the State Claims Agency and the Health Service Executive).
In fulfilling its terms of reference as approved by Government, the Group may consult with a range of relevant parties. It is considered that securing the views of patients, the legal profession and others will be of enormous value to the deliberations of the Group, and accordingly, the Group is engaged in a schedule of work and consultations with relevant parties.
As it would not be possible for the Group to consult with every individual or representative group who might have an interest in the matter, a notice was placed in the Irish Times and the Irish Independent on 6th June 2023, inviting submissions from interested parties. The invitation to make a submission was also published on the consultation section of the Government website.
118. Deputy David Cullinane asked the Minister for Health the number of medical negligence cases currently being managed by the State Claims Agency; the value of such claims; the value of awards made in each of the past three years and the number of cases these related to; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48906/23]
View answerThe State Claims Agency (SCA) has a statutory remit to manage personal injury claims on behalf of Delegated State Authorities including the Health Service Executive.
Accordingly, the SCA has provided me with the information set out below in response to the Deputy's question. I have been informed by the SCA that this information has been extracted from the National Incident Management System (NIMS) according to the criteria and definitions set out below.
The information contained in this report has been extracted from the National Incident Management System (NIMS). Please note that the value of our current active clinical claims is not provided. This detail is published annually and, at year-end 2022, the estimated outstanding liability was €3.86bn.
Criteria used
• Healthcare and Healthcare private scheme locations are included in this report.
• Medical negligence claims are identified on NIMS through the Incident / Hazard Category of Clinical Care.
• Question 1 shows the number of clinical active claims, as at October end, being managed by the State Claims Agency.
• Question 2 shows the total amount paid in clinical damages (special and general) in the period 2020 – 2023, as at October end, and the number of cases related to these payments. Claims with no financial impact in the requested period have been excluded from this report. Amounts include VAT.
• This report is correct as of 31/10/2023.
Question 1 – Total number of active clinical claims
The number of active clinical claims being managed by the State Claims Agency, as at end October 2023, is 3,926.
Question 2 – Amount of damages paid in clinical care claims for the period 2020-2023 (as of end October 2023) and the number of claims these payments relate to.
Table 1 – The amount of damages paid in clinical care claims for the period 2020-2023 (YTD) and the number of claims these payments relate to.
|
Transaction Reporting Year |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
2023 (YTD) |
|
|
Damages Amount Paid € |
€ 245,066,025 |
€ 284,856,265 |
€ 289,186,426 |
€ 215,041,063 |
€ 1,034,149,780* |
|
Number of Claims |
457 |
411 |
552 |
471 |
1,801** |
* Totals may not add up due to rounding.
** A claim may have payments for damages in more than one year. The total number of claims reflects the unique number of claims for which damages were paid in the period 2020-2023 YTD.
Definitions:
National Incident Management System (NIMS): National Incident Management System (NIMS): Incidents (which include claims) are reported using the “National Incident Management System”, hosted by the State Claims Agency (SCA). An incident can be a harmful Incident (Adverse Event), no harm incident, near miss, dangerous occurrence (reportable circumstance) or complaint. NIMS is the system used by the delegated authorities to fulfil their statutory requirement to report incidents to the State Claims Agency and for their own incident and risk management purposes.
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)”.
Clinical Claim: A claim which falls under the Incident Hazard category of Clinical Care. This category includes incidents relating to the provision of services of a diagnostic or palliative nature. It also includes incidents relating to the provision of treatment. Incidents present in this category will be related to Labour/Delivery, Diagnosis, Surgical/Medical, Care Management, Clinical Procedure, medication incidents or nutrition/blood related incidents.
Number of claims: Number of claims in this report reflects the number of unique claims transacted in the given period. This figure can include a small amount of potential claims.
Transaction Reporting Year: This refers to the year that payments were issued.
Damages Payments: Can includes both General Damages and Special Damages.
Special Damages: Compensation paid with respect to a Plaintiff’s out of pocket expenses such as loss of earnings, medical expenses, costs of care, etc.
General Damages: Compensation paid with respect to a Plaintiff’s pain and suffering.
119. Deputy Gino Kenny asked the Minister for Health for an update on recruitment of Public Health Nurses for the CHO7 area. [48911/23]
View answerAs this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.
120. Deputy Gino Kenny asked the Minister for Health further to Parliamentary Question Nos. 1384 of 18 April 2023, 177 of 16 November 2022 and 860 of 22 March 2022, for an update on recruitment of public health nurses for Lucan, Newcastle and Rathcoole areas of Dublin, as promised by his Department; and if he will provide updated information and confirmation of recruitment. [48912/23]
View answerAs this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.
121. Deputy Frankie Feighan asked the Minister for Health the number of paediatric hospitalisations in Ireland associated with chickenpox in 2022 and to date in 2023; the percentage increase, if any, in hospitalisation between both years; the economic impact of such hospitalisations in terms of bed nights on our public paediatric system; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48915/23]
View answerAs this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to the deputy directly, as soon as possible.
122. Deputy Frankie Feighan asked the Minister for Health what impact illnesses like, Strep A, RSV and chickenpox are expected to have on the public paediatric health system in Winter 2023; what preventative measures are been taken by his Department and the HSE in advance to limit such impacts; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48916/23]
View answerAs this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to the deputy directly, as soon as possible.
123. Deputy Frankie Feighan asked the Minister for Health when the 2024 HSE Service Plan is expected to be published; if it is anticipated to return the publication of this important plan to the year-end period of the preceding year, which was the norm prior to the impact of Covid-19, i.e., December 2023 for the year 2024; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48917/23]
View answerThe Health Act (2004), as amended, provides the legislative basis for the preparation, submission and approval of the HSE National Service Plan.
The Department and the HSE are continuing to engage on the development of the National Service Plan 2024 and the objective is an early approval of the National Services Plan.
124. Deputy Frankie Feighan asked the Minister for Health the amount of funding allocated for the provision of the primary childhood immunisation programme in the years ranging from 2018-2024; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48918/23]
View answerAs this is an operational matter for the HSE, I have referred the question to the HSE for a direct reply.
125. Deputy Róisín Shortall asked the Minister for Health if he intends to amend the Pharmacy Act 2007 to provide for statutory regulation of hospital pharmacy technicians; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48921/23]
View answerI thank the Deputy for the question.
The Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland (PSI), as the pharmacy regulator, is responsible for protecting the health, safety and wellbeing of patients and the public by regulating pharmacists and pharmacies in Ireland and assuring public trust in the quality of pharmacy services through effective regulation.
Under the Pharmacy Act 2007, there is no statutory requirement for the PSI to oversee, approve or accredit the education and training of pharmacy technicians.
A 'Pharmacy Technician' is not a restricted title in law in Ireland and pharmacy technicians are not subject to a statutory professional regulatory regime.
This is not to underestimate the value of the work that pharmacy technicians do, and the Department recognises that they play an important role in many pharmacies, including hospital pharmacies, supporting the operation of the pharmacy and the work of pharmacists, and make a valuable contribution to pharmacy service delivery. In these roles, they are subject to the overall regulatory frameworks that governs activities in pharmacies.
PSI recently launched their Workforce Intelligence Report which examined the current challenges to the recruitment and retention of pharmacists in community and hospital settings. The recommendations in this report have been developed following extensive consultation and engagement and from triangulation of evidence from a literature review, workforce survey and focus groups.
One recommendation of this report speaks to the development of a national strategy for the future role of pharmacy technicians within the health system.
The Department of Health worked with the PSI on the development of the recommendation and is identified in the report as the key stakeholder to progress this action.
There is substantial work to be undertaken on foot of the recommendation, however, within that work, there are no plans to amend the Pharmacy Act to provide for statutory regulation of pharmacy technicians at this time. The Department will seek to work with stakeholders to support this profession by prioritising a focus on a scope of practice frameworks, standardisation of qualifications and workforce planning.
126. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Health if it is correct that Clondalkin will have no public adult occupational therapy service as of 9 November 2023; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48925/23]
View answerAs this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.
127. Deputy Marc MacSharry asked the Minister for Health when a decision is expected to be made by his Department on providing the varicella vaccine to children in Ireland as part of the national immunisation programme, considering the results of the positive HTA outcome in July 2023, the response of the National Immunisation Lead from 8 August 2023 which stated that “it is currently not Department of Health immunisation policy to provide varicella vaccine”, and his reply to Parliamentary Question No. 511 of 24 October 2023, which outlined “the Department has asked to HSE to provide detailed costings and an implementation plan which will inform a decision in relation to the inclusion of the chickenpox vaccine in the primary childhood immunisation programme”; where this decision making process is at currently; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48927/23]
View answerThe immunisation programme in Ireland is based on the advice of the National Immunisation Advisory Committee (NIAC).
NIAC continue to revise its recommendations having regard to of the prevalence of the relevant disease in Ireland and international best practice in relation to immunisation. As the Deputy is aware, the varicella vaccine is not currently included as part of the primary childhood immunisation programme however NIAC has recommended that the vaccine is included in the programme.
My Department asked HIQA to carry out a Health Technology Assessment (HTA) on the Varicella Zoster Vaccine which was published on July 13th 2023.HIQA found that there is clear and consistent evidence that the chickenpox vaccine is both safe and effective in preventing chickenpox and its complications. It also found that adding the chickenpox vaccine to the programme is likely to be cost effective.
Having considered the findings of the HTA, the Department has asked to HSE to provide detailed costings and an implementation plan which will inform a decision in relation to the inclusion of the chickenpox vaccine in the primary childhood immunisation programme. These costings and plan have not yet been received by the Department.
