Written Answers Nos. 164-174
164. Deputy Denis Naughten asked the Minister for Health when the intensive care rehabilitation unit at the Merlin Park University Hospital campus in County Galway will be operational; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43212/15]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs this is a service matter, I have asked the HSE to respond to you directly. If you have not received a reply from the HSE within 15 working days please contact my Private Office and my officials will follow the matter up.
165. Deputy Denis Naughten asked the Minister for Health the justification, the estimated cost and the timeline for completion of the current works by Galway and Roscommon primary community continuing care at the St. Dympna's and St. Luke's units in Ballinasloe, County Galway; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43213/15]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs this is a service issue this question has been referred to the HSE for direct reply. If you have not received a reply within 15 working days, please contact my Private Office and they will follow up the matter with them.
166. Deputy Denis Naughten asked the Minister for Health the additional residential services to be provided for persons with a disability in 2016; the number of places to be provided to Roscommon primary community continuing care; the number of persons on the list for such places; the number of cases prioritised; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43214/15]
Amharc ar fhreagra167. Deputy Denis Naughten asked the Minister for Health the additional residential services for persons with a disability to be provided in 2016; the number of places to be provided to Galway primary community continuing care; the number of persons on the list for such places; the number of cases prioritised; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43215/15]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 166 and 167 together.
As the Deputy's questions relate to service matters, I have arranged for the questions to be referred to the Health Service Executive (HSE) for direct reply to the Deputy. If the Deputy has not received replies from the HSE within 15 working days, he can contact my Private Office and they will follow the matter up with the HSE.
168. Deputy Denis Naughten asked the Minister for Health further to Parliamentary Question No. 696 of 2 July 2013, the number of long-term involuntary or forensic patients; the number of these deemed suitable for accommodation in an intensive care rehabilitation unit accommodated outside the Central Mental Hospital and appropriate long-term accommodation; the numbers in the Central Mental Hospital due for release in 2015 and in each of the next three years; the timeline for completion of regional intensive care rehabilitation units and the capacity of same; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43216/15]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs this is a service issue this question has been referred to the HSE for direct reply. If you have not received a reply within 15 working days, please contact my Private Office and they will follow up the matter with them.
169. Deputy Thomas P. Broughan asked the Minister for Health if he will report on the treatment programme for haemochromatosis; the financial supports available to persons who have this condition and therefore must have regular venesections; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43222/15]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe IBTS currently provides a haemochromatosis service at three centres, two in Dublin and one in Cork. The service is provided free of charge and, where patients meet all the normal blood donation criteria, they can become blood donors.
Where a regular donor (someone who has donated within the previous two years) is diagnosed with haemochromatosis, they can continue to donate and have their venesections performed by the IBTS in their own locality up to four times per year.
The HSE and the IBTS are currently working in partnership to develop the most appropriate model of care for the extension of a haemochromatosis service to the rest of the country.
170. Deputy Timmy Dooley asked the Minister for Health when a person (details supplied) in County Clare will have a procedure; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43224/15]
Amharc ar fhreagraUnder the Health Act 2004, the Health Service Executive (HSE) is required to manage and deliver, or arrange to be delivered on its behalf, health and personal social services. Section 6 of the HSE Governance Act 2013 bars the Minister for Health from directing the HSE to provide a treatment or a personal service to any individual or to confer eligibility on any individual.
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 you directly. If you have not received a reply from the HSE within 15 working days please contact my Private Office and my officials will follow the matter up.
171. Deputy Billy Kelleher asked the Minister for Health further to Parliamentary Question No. 439 of 24 November 2015 (details supplied), the full-year cost to the health services of providing an additional 1,000 qualified and working general practitioners, as distinct from the training costs in providing them. [43230/15]
Amharc ar fhreagraIt is not possible to quantify the financial implications for the HSE of 1,000 additional GPs being contracted to provide services to the public health system under the General Medical Services (GMS) Scheme and other schemes. GPs are remunerated for these services primarily on a capitation basis, with a range of additional support payments and fees for specific items of service. The amount payable in respect of certain of these supports is related to the doctor's panel size. In addition, medical indemnity insurance premia are refunded to contracted GPs, also based on the size of each doctor's GMS patient panel. The HSE pays into a superannuation scheme a sum equivalent to 10% of total capitation fees payable to contracted GPs.
The most recently published Statistical Analysis of Claims and Payments of the HSE's Primary Care Reimbursement Service relates to the year 2013. This report indicates that payments totalling €451.7 million were made to some 2,400 GMS contract holders. In total these costs related to approximately 1.9 million GMS patients. There was substantial variation in the average amount paid, ranging from €14,753 for a patient panel of up to 100 patients to €448,960 for a panel of 2,001 or more patients. The addition of substantially more contract-holding GPs would enhance the choice available to patients in the first place but any impact on the Exchequer would be dependent on the distribution of the eligible patients across the panels of contracting doctors. Where newly-qualified GPs obtain a GMS contract, they can only attract patients from the existing pool of GMS patients until such time as further phases of universal GP care are introduced.
172. Deputy Fergus O'Dowd asked the Minister for Health his views on correspondence (details supplied) regarding the Irish Association of Physical Therapists; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43233/15]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Physiotherapists Registration Board will soon make the necessary by-laws under the Health and Social Care Professionals Act 2005 to allow it to establish its register early next year. The title of physiotherapist will, as a consequence, be protected for the exclusive use of the board's registrants when the register's 2 year transitional period ends in 2018.
I am currently examining the issue of also protecting the title of physical therapist under the Act. In the rest of the English speaking world the titles of physical therapist and physiotherapist are interchangeable and their users are qualified physiotherapists. In Ireland, however, the title is used by a number of practitioners who are not physiotherapists but who are competing with physiotherapists in the private sector in the provision of musculoskeletal therapies.
Earlier this year, having consulted with the Health and Social Care Professionals Council, I wrote to a number of relevant organisations regarding my proposal to protect the title of physical therapist as a variant of the title of physiotherapist and invited them to submit their views. The submissions are now being examined and I expect that I will make a decision on the matter before the end of the year that ensures public protection and appropriately addresses the legitimate concerns of all parties.
173. Deputy Michael McCarthy asked the Minister for Health why a person (details supplied) in County Louth has been excluded from the Lourdes hospital redress scheme. [43235/15]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe original Lourdes Hospital Redress Board was set up in 2007 as a response to the Lourdes Hospital Inquiry. The objective of the Redress Board was to provide compensation to women who were former patients of Dr. Michael Neary, who had unnecessary obstetric hysterectomies and also to women under 40 years of age who had unnecessary bilateral oophorectomies, i.e. the removal of both ovaries or a remaining single functioning ovary at the time of obstetric hysterectomy, or as a gynaecological procedure. In each case the surgical procedure would have led to early menopause. The Redress Board determined that awards were payable in 119 cases.
Following on from this, the Lourdes Hospital Payment Scheme was set up in November 2013 in keeping with a commitment in the Programme for Government to make awards to women over 40 who had a bilateral oophorectomy, or removal of a single functioning ovary, but whose applications were rejected on age grounds alone by the Redress Board. To date 45 awards have been made with a small number of applications awaiting final determination. Thirty seven applications were refused under this latter Scheme, because they did not meet the criteria for awards and another 9 applications were withdrawn.
The criteria for eligibility under both Schemes were very clear and unfortunately the person who has requested consideration of her case did not meet the criteria for either Scheme. The total gross cost of both Schemes to date is €23.4m. With contributions from indemnifiers of €7.7m, the net cost to the Exchequer is therefore €15.7m.
I met Patient Focus during Summer 2015 concerning a small number of women who were represented by Patient Focus, who did not meet the criteria to receive awards under either of the schemes. Following this meeting my officials carefully considered this matter. Having looked at the cases in question, and the broad range of conditions detailed, despite being sympathetic to the plight of the women, I do not propose to seek approval from Government to establish a further Redress Scheme. It is of course, open to any woman to seek redress or compensation in the normal way should her legal adviser determine she has a case.
174. Deputy Michael McCarthy asked the Minister for Health when a person (details supplied) in County Cork will be provided with medical records, as requested; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43238/15]
Amharc ar fhreagraI have asked the Health Service Executive to reply to the Deputy directly on this operational matter.
If the Deputy has not received a reply from the HSE within 15 working days, he can contact my Private Office and the matter will be followed up.
