Billy Kelleher
Ceist:355. Deputy Billy Kelleher asked the Minister for Health the number of tobacco sales to minors test purchase inspections carried out in 2017. [53803/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraTobacco Control Measures
Ceisteanna (355, 356, 357)
Billy Kelleher
Ceist:356. Deputy Billy Kelleher asked the Minister for Health the proportion of new and existing sites with a tobacco-free campus policy implemented in residential units for older persons in mental health approved centres, in mental health community residencies and in residential disability services. [53804/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraBilly Kelleher
Ceist:357. Deputy Billy Kelleher asked the Minister for Health the number of front-line health care workers trained in 2017 to screen and support smokers to quit. [53806/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraFreagraí scríofa
I propose to take Questions Nos. 355, 356 and 357 together.
As these matters are service issues I have sent these questions to the Health Service Executive (HSE) for direct reply.
Hospital Food
Ceisteanna (358)
Billy Kelleher
Ceist:358. Deputy Billy Kelleher asked the Minister for Health the public and voluntary hospitals that have and do not have calorie posting in place, respectively, in tabular form. [53807/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraFreagraí scríofa
As this is a service matter, it has been referred to the Health Service Executive for attention and direct reply to the Deputy. If you have not received a reply from the HSE within 15 working days please contact my Private Office and they will follow up on the matter.
Hospital Food
Ceisteanna (359)
Billy Kelleher
Ceist:359. Deputy Billy Kelleher asked the Minister for Health the public and voluntary hospitals that have implemented and not implemented, respectively, the healthier vending policy, in tabular form. [53808/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraFreagraí scríofa
As this is a service matter, it has been referred to the Health Service Executive for attention and direct reply to the Deputy. If you have not received a reply from the HSE within 15 working days please contact my Private Office and they will follow up on the matter.
Hospital Food
Ceisteanna (360)
Billy Kelleher
Ceist:360. Deputy Billy Kelleher asked the Minister for Health the acute hospitals that have and have not, respectively, a HSE hospital food and nutrition policy developed and implemented, in tabular form. [53809/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraFreagraí scríofa
As this is a service matter, it has been referred to the Health Service Executive for attention and direct reply to the Deputy. If you have not received a reply from the HSE within 15 working days please contact my Private Office and they will follow up on the matter.
Nursing Education
Ceisteanna (361)
Billy Kelleher
Ceist:361. Deputy Billy Kelleher asked the Minister for Health the number of public health nurses that have received training on the nutrition reference pack for infants aged zero to 12 months. [53810/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraFreagraí scríofa
As the Deputy's question relates to service matters, I have arranged for the question to be referred to the Health Service Executive for direct reply to the Deputy.
Alcohol Treatment Programmes
Ceisteanna (362)
Billy Kelleher
Ceist:362. Deputy Billy Kelleher asked the Minister for Health the number of additional area alcohol action plans developed in 2017. [53811/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraFreagraí scríofa
Community Action on Alcohol is an evidence based, public health approach to reducing alcohol harms. It requires community leadership and locally based action and is underpinned by community development principles.
Community Action on Alcohol was initiated as a pilot project in 2015 and has now been initiated in 19 communities across Ireland. Eleven additional area action plans have been published and launched in 2017.
Positive Ageing Strategy Implementation
Ceisteanna (363)
Billy Kelleher
Ceist:363. Deputy Billy Kelleher asked the Minister for Health the details of the national implementation plan to promote positive ageing. [53812/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraFreagraí scríofa
The National Positive Ageing Strategy (NPAS), published on 24 April 2013, provides a framework for cooperation to address age-related policy and service delivery across Government and society in the years ahead. The Strategy is intended to promote older people’s health and well being so that older people can continue to contribute to social, economic, cultural and family life in their own communities for as long as possible, thereby representing a vision for an age-friendly society. The Strategy highlights that ageing is not just a health issue, but rather requires a whole of Government approach to address a range of social, economic and environmental factors that affect the health and well-being of our ageing citizens.
At the launch of the Strategy, a commitment was made to publish an Implementation Plan to facilitate the translation of the Goals and Objectives of the Strategy into action on the ground. The approach to implementation originally included in the Strategy would have worked where a finite number of discrete and concrete steps could be taken after which the implementation could be deemed complete. However, many of the objectives included in this Strategy are quite broad, and can be viewed as a set of principles to which Government has committed, and which will inform policies that affect older people on an indefinite basis into the future, rather than concrete objectives that can be delivered in the short term.
The Department has therefore formulated new arrangements to implement and monitor the implementation of the National Positive Ageing Strategy. The revised arrangements were approved by the Cabinet Committee on Social Policy and Public Service Reform on 27 October, 2016.
The new arrangements establish mechanisms that will give stakeholder groups effective and on-going access to Government Departments and State Agencies relevant to older people. This includes an annual Forum for stakeholders to identify what they consider to be their key priorities for Government for the coming year and the next three years; and establishing clear channels of communications between stakeholders and relevant Government Departments. In this regard, stakeholder representatives will engage with a named senior official on issues relevant to their remit, in order that the priorities identified by the stakeholders at the Forum can be pursued.
The inaugural stakeholder Forum took place on 30th March 2017, and was attended by civic society organisations who are representative of the needs and views of older people in Ireland. Following on from this successful Forum, the Department of Health has opened a dialogue with each of the Government Departments identified as having responsibility for the priorities agreed by stakeholders, in order that they are aware of the issues for discussion prior to being contacted by a stakeholder representative group. The Department of Health will meet with the stakeholder representative group in early 2018 to review the progress made and plan for the next stakeholder forum.
As part of the NPAS implementation process, a Healthy and Positive Ageing Initiative has been established in collaboration with the HSE’s Health and Wellbeing Programme and the Atlantic Philanthropies to measure the impact of the Strategy and establish an ongoing system for measuring and reporting on Positive Ageing. The Initiative will monitor changes in older people’s health and well-##being linked to the Goals and Objectives of the National Positive Ageing Strategy. This will be done primarily through the development of Positive Ageing indicators to be published every two years. The Initiative is intended to provide evidence of the factors contributing to positive ageing, including at local level and ultimately inform policy responses to population ageing in Ireland. The first national Positive Ageing Indicators report was published in 2016 and highlights many of the positive and negative aspects of growing old in Ireland.
The National Positive Ageing Strategy and the activities of the HaPAI are strongly embedded within the vision and actions set out for Healthy Ireland, the Government-led initiative which aims to create an Irish society where people of all ages can enjoy good physical and mental health, and where well-##being is supported at every level of society. The Healthy Ireland Framework was launched in 2013 and seeks to provide people and communities with accurate information on how to improve their health and well-##being and to make the healthy choices easier choices. Healthy Ireland takes a whole-of-Government and whole-of-society approach to improving health and well-being and the quality of people’s lives and a number of new structures have been put in place to ensure that all sectors of society are given opportunities to participate.
Cancer Screening Programmes
Ceisteanna (364, 365, 367)
Billy Kelleher
Ceist:364. Deputy Billy Kelleher asked the Minister for Health the number of eligible women aged 50 to 64 years of age screened under BreastCheck to date in 2017. [53813/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraBilly Kelleher
Ceist:365. Deputy Billy Kelleher asked the Minister for Health the number of eligible women aged 65 to 69 years of age screened under BreastCheck to date in 2017. [53814/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraBilly Kelleher
Ceist:367. Deputy Billy Kelleher asked the Minister for Health the percentage uptake of breast screening among the eligible population to date in 2017. [53816/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraFreagraí scríofa
I propose to take Questions Nos. 364, 365 and 367 together.
BreastCheck currently invites women aged 50 to 66 for bi-annual mammograms. This age range is being extended to the age of 69 on a phased basis. By the end of 2021, all women aged between 50 and 69 will be invited for routine breast screening.
74.9% of women in the eligible population have been screened through BreastCheck to 31 October 2017. In numerical terms, 122,658 of eligible women between the ages of 50-64 and 12,756 eligible women between the ages of 65-69 were screened to the end of October.
Health Services Data
Ceisteanna (366)
Billy Kelleher
Ceist:366. Deputy Billy Kelleher asked the Minister for Health the number of babies breastfed exclusively and not exclusively, respectively, at the first public health nurse visit and the three month public health nurse developmental check. respectively. [53815/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraFreagraí scríofa
As the Deputy's question relates to service matters, I have arranged for the question to be referred to the Health Service Executive for direct reply to the Deputy.
Question No. 367 answered with Question No. 364.
Cancer Screening Programmes
Ceisteanna (368, 369)
Billy Kelleher
Ceist:368. Deputy Billy Kelleher asked the Minister for Health the number of women that have had one or more CervicalCheck smear tests in a primary care setting to date in 2017. [53819/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraBilly Kelleher
Ceist:369. Deputy Billy Kelleher asked the Minister for Health the percentage of eligible women with at least one satisfactory CervicalCheck screening in a five year period. [53820/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraFreagraí scríofa
I propose to take Questions Nos. 368 and 369 together.
All women in Ireland between the ages of 25 and 60 can avail of free cervical screening tests through CervicalCheck - the national cervical screening programme. Women can choose to have their screening test carried out from over 4,500 practice nurses, GP and health clinics nationwide. 79.9% of eligible women have had at least one satisfactory smear test in a five year period up to 31st October 2017.