Written Answers Nos. 560-573
560. Deputy Shane Cassells asked the Minister for Health the number of persons in each region who are currently on a waiting list to have a cataract removal procedure, in tabular form; when he expects these lists to be cleared; the average waiting time for each region; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16679/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraReducing waiting times for the longest waiting patients is one of this Government's key priorities. Consequently, Budget 2017 allocated €20 million to the NTPF, rising to €55 million in 2018.
In December 2016, I granted approval to the NTPF to dedicate €5m to a daycase waiting list initiative with the aim of ensuring that no patient will be waiting more than 18 months for a daycase procedure by 30 June 2017. In excess of 2000 daycases will be managed through this process and outsourcing of treatment will commence shortly. The focus of this initiative will be those lists with large numbers of long waiting patients including Ophthalmology.
In addition to this Daycase Initiative, the NTPF has been working closely with my Department and the HSE to agree an approach to the remaining 2017 allocation. The HSE is currently developing a 2017 Waiting List Action Plans for Inpatient/Daycase procedures and Outpatient appointments to reduce the number of patients waiting more than 15 months by the end of October. The Inpatient/Day case Plan is being developed in conjunction with the NTPF's approach to the utilisation of its remaining €10m funding for patient treatment in 2017.
The HSE has now submitted Draft Waiting List Action Plans for Inpatient Daycases and Scoliosis. My Department is currently reviewing and evaluating these plans and engagement is ongoing with the HSE and the NTPF towards the finalisation of the former. The Outpatients Plan has been significantly progressed and I expect that it will be submitted shortly.
The HSE is currently finalising the Report of the Primary Care Eye Services Review. The overall aim of the Review is to reorganise primary care eye services with an increased emphasis on maximising delivery of a comprehensive service at primary care level and thereby creating capacity in the acute sector to provide more complex services.
In response to the particular query raised, as this is a service matter, I have asked the HSE to respond to you directly.
561. Deputy Niamh Smyth asked the Minister for Health if he will review and organise an appointment in the case of a person (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16681/17]
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 scheduling of appointments for patients is a matter for the hospital to which the patient has been referred. Should a patient's general practitioner consider that the patient's condition warrants an earlier appointment, he or she should take the matter up with the consultant and the hospital involved. In relation to the specific case raised, I have asked the HSE to respond to you directly.
564. Deputy Noel Rock asked the Minister for Health the actions he has undertaken to date in tackling underage alcohol consumption; the results to date; his views on figures which showed an increase of the number of admissions in Dublin’s three main children's hospitals; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16689/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraAlcohol policy in Ireland has developed over the years. Current policy is outlined in the Steering Group Report of the National Substance Misuse Strategy.
The overall volume of alcohol consumption and the pattern of binge drinking predict the incidence of alcohol-related harm in Ireland. Price, availability and marketing of alcohol are key factors in its supply which in turn impacts on the volume and pattern of alcohol consumption. The strategic objective with respect to the supply of alcohol products is to ensure that the supply and price of alcohol is regulated and controlled in order to minimise the possibility and incidence of alcohol-related harm. This will be achieved by, addressing issues such as - reducing the supply of cheap alcohol - controlling the availability of alcohol - preventing the sale of alcohol to children under 18 years of age and restrictions on alcohol marketing and sponsorship.
It is important to change the culture around drinking and future proof our children from harmful drinking. The Public Health Alcohol Bill includes provisions to address these strategic objectives. The Bill addresses alcohol as a public health measure for the first time.
How affordable alcohol is to the average consumer has a direct impact on consumption - as the price of alcohol increases, consumption rates and harms decrease. Strong and cheap drink is favoured by young people, who have the least disposable income and the highest prevalence of binge drinking. Minimum unit pricing of alcohol products sets a minimum price per gram or unit of alcohol. It is a targeted measure, designed to prevent the sale of alcohol at very cheap prices and will have a substantial impact on alcohol consumption. The Bill introduces a minimum unit price for alcohol products which will help prevent alcohol being sold at pocket money prices.
A licence is required to sell alcohol and this should be reflected in how it is displayed for sale. The separation of alcohol and its reduced visibility in mixed retail shops will stop children associating alcohol with everyday household grocery items.
Alcohol marketing increases the likelihood that adolescents will start to use alcohol earlier and will drink more if they are already using alcohol. The Bill will restrict the amount of advertising that children are exposed to - alcohol free advertising zones around schools, parks, etc. Regulations on the content of advertising will ensure that alcohol advertisements are not appealing to children. We are banning sponsorship of events where majority of participants are children/aimed at children. We are reducing the association between alcohol products and events that appeal to children and restricting advertising of alcohol products at some sporting events. This is the first step in severing link between alcohol and sport.
The most recent European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs shows that use of alcohol and of heavy episodic drinking was less common among Irish students compared to the other countries in the survey.
The Department has also referred your question to the Health Service Executive in relation to alcohol related admissions of children to paediatric hospitals in Dublin. The HSE will reply directly to you.
565. Deputy Hildegarde Naughton asked the Minister for Health when he will make commencement orders in respect of the remaining sections that fall under his remit of the Assisted Decision Making (Capacity) Act 2015; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16693/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act was signed into law on 30 December 2015. The Act provides a modern statutory framework to support decision-making by adults with capacity difficulties, and the greater part of this Act is the responsibility of the Department of Justice and Equality.
The commencement of Part 8 of the Act, which provides a legislative framework for advance healthcare directives (AHDs) is a matter for my Department. An AHD is a statement made by a person with capacity setting out his or her will and preferences regarding treatment decisions that may arise in the future when he or she no longer has capacity.
Under section 91 of the Act, I am responsible for the establishment of a multidisciplinary working group to assist in the development and preparation of the Code of Practice for the AHD provisions of the Act. I established this multidisciplinary working group on 17 October 2016 under section 91(2) of the Act. The role of the working group will be to prepare a detailed series of recommendations for the Director of the Decision Support Service, in relation to codes of practice. The Director will subsequently prepare and submit a Code(s) of Practice to me for my consent to publish.
The preparation of the Code of Practice will facilitate the subsequent commencement of Part 8 of the Act, pertaining to AHDs, in its entirety.
566. Deputy Barry Cowen asked the Minister for Health when a person (details supplied) may expect an appointment; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16754/17]
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 scheduling of appointments for patients is a matter for the hospital to which the patient has been referred. Should a patient's general practitioner consider that the patient's condition warrants an earlier appointment, he or she should take the matter up with the consultant and the hospital involved. In relation to the specific case raised, I have asked the HSE to respond to you directly.
567. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Health his plans to legislate for the regulation of surrogacy; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16755/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraOfficials in my Department are currently drafting the General Scheme of legislative provisions on assisted human reproduction (AHR) and associated research, which will include provisions relating to surrogacy. It is envisaged that the General Scheme will be completed by the end of June 2017. Once the General Scheme has been completed, a memo will be submitted for Government approval, and once approved by Government, I intend to submit the General Scheme to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health for pre-legislative scrutiny.
The proposed legislation will take cognisance of the 2014 Supreme Court judgment in the MR & Anor v. An tArd Chláraitheoir & Ors (surrogacy) case, which found that the birth mother, rather than the genetic mother, is the legal mother. It is envisaged that the legislation will establish a mechanism for transfer of parentage from the surrogate (and her husband, if she has one) to the intending parents.
In addition, it is envisaged that under the surrogacy provisions at least one of the intending parents will have to be genetically related to the child. Surrogacy will be permitted on an altruistic basis where the payment of defined and receiptable reasonable expenses will be allowed, however, commercial surrogacy will be prohibited.
The intention of the legislation in this area is to protect, promote and ensure the health and safety of parents, others involved in the process (such as donors and surrogate mothers) and, most importantly, the children who will be born as a result of AHR.
568. Deputy Brendan Smith asked the Minister for Health if funding under the EU INTERREG IVA programme is secure for the work of CAWT in view of the importance of this programme for the delivery of some health services on a cross-Border basis; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16757/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Department of Health is the Accountable Department for the health theme of the cross border INTERREG V Programme, which is managed by the Special EU Programme’s Body (SEUPB). The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform has overall responsibility at central level for the INTERREG and PEACE programmes and the SEUPB is an agency under its remit. These cross border Programmes are 85% funded by the EU. I am pleased to note that following intensive discussions by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform with the Department of Finance in Northern Ireland, agreement was reached at the end of October 2016 on a safeguard clause that has enabled funding agreements to be put in place and Letters of Offer to issue to programme beneficiaries for both PEACE and INTERREG.
Approximately €47.5m worth of EU INTERREG VA Programme funding has been offered to eight innovative cross-border health and social care initiatives. The funding will be used to reduce health inequalities, transition health services from an institutional to community-based setting and increase efficiencies through increased use of e-health technologies, on both sides of the border.
Match-funding for the projects is provided by the Departments of Health in Ireland and Northern Ireland alongside the Scottish Government.
A number of the successful projects will be led by the Health Service Executive on behalf of the CAWT Partnership; these projects are in the areas of Mental Health, Acute Services, Health and Well-Being and Children’s Services. In addition, CAWT is a partner in a project on Primary Care and Older People which is led by NHS 24 (Scotland).
CAWT has an excellent track record in delivering INTERREG Projects and I am pleased that they have been successful in securing funding for these projects. Implementation of the projects will make a difference to people’s lives and importantly will demonstrate real collaboration in achieving the project aims. These projects are also important in the context of continued North/South co-operation in the health area.
573. Deputy Pat The Cope Gallagher asked the Minister for Health the number of ambulances and staffing levels for County Donegal in the years 2008, 2012 and 2016; the distribution of ambulances within the county throughout the various ambulance stations or locations for those years; if he has satisfied himself that the number of ambulances, staffing levels and the ability to meet call out times can be met and fulfilled; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16786/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs this is a service matter, I have asked the HSE to respond to you directly.
