Wednesday, 4 Mar 2015

Written Answers Nos. 138 - 142

Hospital Appointments Status

Ceisteanna (138)

Denis Naughten

Ceist:

138. Deputy Denis Naughten asked the Minister for Health when a person (details supplied) will be called for surgery; the reason for the delay in same; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9481/15]

Freagraí scríofa

Minister for Health

The National Waiting List Management Policy, A standardised approach to managing scheduled care treatment for in-patient, day case and planned procedures, January 2014, has been developed to ensure that all administrative, managerial and clinical staff follow an agreed national minimum standard for the management and administration of waiting lists for scheduled care. This policy, which has been adopted by the Health Service Executive, sets out the processes that hospitals are to implement to manage waiting lists.

In relation to the particular query raised, as this is a service matter, I have asked the HSE to respond to the Deputy directly. If he has not received a reply from the HSE within 15 working days he should contact my Private Office and my officials will follow the matter up with them.

Health Services Provision

Ceisteanna (139)

Ciara Conway

Ceist:

139. Deputy Ciara Conway asked the Minister for Health if he will provide an update on dermatology services in University Hospital Waterford; if he will provide an update on recruitment to fill vacant posts; if he will provide a commitment that reinstating full dermatology services in County Waterford is a priority; if he will provide the timeframe for the restoration of services; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9495/15]

Freagraí scríofa

Minister for Health

As this is a service matter, I have asked the HSE to respond to the Deputy directly. If she has not received a reply from the HSE within 15 working days she should contact my Private Office and my officials will follow the matter up with them.

Health Services Staff

Ceisteanna (140)

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin

Ceist:

140. Deputy Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin asked the Minister for Health the number of doctors by specialty, including consultants, non-consultant hospital doctors and general practitioners currently registered and practising in the State; if any studies or assessments have been carried out to ascertain the number of said doctors required in the State to cover all capacity constraints that can and do arise. [9497/15]

Freagraí scríofa

Minister for Health

The Medical Council is the statutory body responsible for the regulation of doctors in Ireland. The cornerstone of the Council's work in protecting the public is establishing and maintaining a Register of doctors. The Medical Practitioners Act 2007 governs the Council's work in this regard including determining the Divisions of the Register and requirements for registration of doctors on the Register.

In its medical workforce intelligence reports, the Council publishes an annual analysis of the registration data that it holds. The Council's most recent report, which was published in August 2014, is based on an analysis of data gathered through its June 2013 annual retention of registration process. In all, at year end 2013, 18,160 doctors were registered with the Medical Council.

The distribution of doctors who retained registration for each area of practice and by Division on the Register was reported as follows:

Area of Practice	Specialist Registration	General Registration	Trainee Specialist Registration	Supervised Registration
Anaesthesia	50.9%	36.6%	12.5%	-
Emergency Medicine	17.1%	65.9%	17.0%	-
General Practice	55.7%	37.8%	6.5%	-
Medicine	35.7%	44.8%	19.5%	-
Obstetrics and Gynaecology	37.8%	47.5%	14.5%	0.2%
Occupational Medicine	62.6%	34.0%	3.4%	-
Ophthalmology	64.1%	26.6%	9.2%	-
Paediatrics	36.5%	46.9%	16.6%	-
Pathology	62.4%	25.6%	12.0%	-
Psychiatry	48.1%	37.3%	14.4%	0.2%
Public Health Medicine	45.8%	52.7%	1.4%	-
Radiology	63.9%	25.2%	10.8%	-
Sports & Exercise	61.5%	38.5%	-
Surgery	39.0%	49.9%	11.1%	0.1%

With regard to registration on the Specialist Division of the Medical Council's Register, the recognised specialisations of doctors retaining registration was reported as outlined in the following table. In its report, the Council noted that registered doctors may practise in more than one specialty so occurrences may exceed the total number of specialists nationally.

Specialty	N
Anaesthesia	549
Cardiology	134
Cardiothoracic Surgery	33
Chemical Pathology	10
Child and Adolescent Psychiatry	124
Clinical Genetics	6
Clinical Neurophysiology	12
Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics	14
Dermatology	57
Emergency Medicine	92
Endocrinology and Diabetes Mellitus	75
Gastroenterology	120
General (Internal) Medicine	638
General Practice	2826
General Surgery	287
Genito-Urinary Medicine	8
Geriatric Medicine	107
Haematology	3
Haematology (Clinical and Laboratory)	80
Histopathology	179
Immunology (Clinical and Laboratory)	8
Infectious Diseases	28
Medical Oncology	54
Microbiology	76
Nephrology	57
Neurology	61
Neuropathology	6
Neurosurgery	28
Obstetrics and Gynaecology	239
Occupational Medicine	101
Ophthalmic Surgery	101
Ophthalmology	141
Oral and Maxillo-Facial Surgery	15
Otolaryngology	87
Paediatric Cardiology	4
Paediatric Surgery	14
Paediatrics	296
Palliative Medicine	47
Pharmaceutical Medicine	8
Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery	60
Psychiatry	475
Psychiatry of Learning Disability	33
Psychiatry of Old Age	76
Public Health Medicine	104
Radiation Oncology	46
Radiology	347
Rehabilitation Medicine	15
Respiratory Medicine	104
Rheumatology	61
Sports and Exercise Medicine	30
Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgery	178
Tropical Medicine	2
Urology	61

With regard to the proportion of inactive doctors by area of practice, in total, 635 (4%) of respondents said that they had not practised medicine in the previous 12 months.

As noted in the final report of the Strategic Review of Medical Training and Career Structure, traditionally there has been limited advance/forward planning of medical specialist posts in the public health system in Ireland. In order to address this, in July 2013, the HSE commissioned the Strategic Medical Workforce Planning (MWP) Project. The Project, which is underway in the HSE's National Doctor Training and Planning Unit is on target to develop a medical workforce planning system by June 2015. The core objective is to develop a workforce planning model that will produce medical workforce projections for all medical specialties over time. The system will be based on a statistical model of supply and demand informed by expert stakeholders, and population and medical workforce data. Both entrants into and exits from the workforce will be accounted for. A measure of patient need and the demand for medical specialist services will also be determined and included in the statistical model.

Health Services Expenditure

Ceisteanna (141)

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin

Ceist:

141. Deputy Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin asked the Minister for Health in view of recent statistics from the OECD which indicate that only 67% of health spending in the State is funded by Government revenue, if he will provide a detailed breakdown as to the proportion of the remaining 33% provided by out of pocket payments by persons and the proportion by private health insurance; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9501/15]

Freagraí scríofa

Minister for Health

Data on Ireland’s private health expenditure is derived and submitted to the OECD by the Central Statistics Office (CSO). The most recent data provided by the CSO refers to 2012 and shows that private healthcare expenditure amounted to €4.718 billion. The CSO breaks down the expenditure into 3 categories - private insurance amounting to €1.949 billion (41%), out of pocket health expenditure amounting to €2.457 billion (52%) and capital expenditure in the private healthcare sector amounting to €0.312 billion (7%).

The CSO and the Department of Health are currently cooperating on a major initiative to produce more detailed annual public and private health expenditure data for Ireland based on the System of Health Accounts (SHA). Implementation of the SHA will enable more comprehensive reporting of health expenditure by provider, funder and types of care. Reporting to Europe under the SHA will be compulsory from 2016 onwards.

General Practitioner Services Provision

Ceisteanna (142)

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin

Ceist:

142. Deputy Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin asked the Minister for Health the estimated cost to the State of the introduction of free general practitioner care for all citizens. [9503/15]

Freagraí scríofa

Minister of State at the Department of Health

The Government is committed to introducing a universal GP service without fees on a phased basis. The first phase will be for all children under six and all persons aged 70 and over to have access to GP care without fees. These arrangements will come into operation in Quarter 2 of 2015, subject to the conclusion of contractual discussions. These measures represent a major step on the way to universal health care.

The introduction of a universal GP service constitutes a fundamental element in the Government's health reform programme. The current Government is the first in the history of the State to have committed itself to implementing a universal GP service for the entire population. A well functioning health system should provide equal access to health care for its patients on the basis of health needs, rather than ability to pay. The principles of universality and equity of access mean that all residents in Ireland should be entitled to access a GP service that is free at the point of use.

The additional cost of providing a universal GP service to the entire population, based on the current rates of payments to GPs and eligibility was estimated to be between €330 million and €365 million.