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Thursday, 12 Dec 2019

Written Answers Nos. 189-208

Health Services Reform

Ceisteanna (189)

Stephen Donnelly

Ceist:

189. Deputy Stephen Donnelly asked the Minister for Health if the proposed new structures within the HSE will be put on a statutory basis. [52258/19]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí scríofa

A clear governance and accountability framework was identified as a key building block of Sláintecare by the Committee on the Future of Healthcare. As part of its recommendations in this area, the Committee called for the HSE to become a more strategic and patient-focused ‘national centre’ carrying out national level functions, and the establishment of regional bodies with responsibility for the planning and delivery of integrated care at a regional level.

As the Deputy is aware, the Government approved the geographies of six new regional health areas which the proposed regional bodies will serve. I intend to return to Government next year with detailed proposals and a supporting business case regarding the respective roles and responsibilities of the regional bodies, the HSE ‘national centre’ and the Department of Health. As outlined in the Sláintecare Implementation Strategy, these new structures will be underpinned by legislation, to be developed in 2021.

Hospice Services Provision

Ceisteanna (190)

Stephen Donnelly

Ceist:

190. Deputy Stephen Donnelly asked the Minister for Health the number of hospices in each local health office area in tabular form. [52259/19]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí scríofa

At present, there are 213 specialist palliative care or hospice beds in 10 locations nationwide, as set out in the table below. The number of hospice beds has increased by 44% over the past five years.

Table

CHO

Service

Number of beds

1

North West Hospice, Sligo

8

2

Galway Hospice, Galway

18

3

Milford Care Centre, Limerick

30

4

Marymount Hospice, Cork

44

4

Kerry Hospice, Tralee

15

6

Our Lady's Hospice and Care Services, Blackrock

12

7

Our Lady's Hospice and Care Services, Harold's Cross

36

7

St. Brigid's Hospice, Kildare

7

9

St. Francis' Hospice, Raheny

19

9

St. Francis' Hospice, Blanchardstown

24

Total

213

In line with the Programme for Government, my Department and the HSE are continuing to work with local communities to provide new or expanded specialist palliative care services. Funding was secured in Budget 2020 to open an additional 55 in-patient palliative care beds next year. 49 of these will be located in three new inpatient units in Mayo, Waterford and Wicklow, with a further 6 beds to be provided as part of an expanded service at St. Brigid's Hospice, Kildare.

A further three units are planned for development in the coming years, serving people with specialist palliative care needs in the Midlands and Border regions. Once these inpatient units are opened, there will be at least one hospice in every CHO region.

I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond directly to the Deputy on the provision of specialist palliative care by LHO area as soon as possible.

Hospital Waiting Lists Data

Ceisteanna (191)

Stephen Donnelly

Ceist:

191. Deputy Stephen Donnelly asked the Minister for Health the number of outpatient appointments outstanding for more than two, three and four years, respectively, at the end of November 2019 for each reporting hospital in tabular form. [52260/19]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí scríofa

Reducing waiting time for patients for hospital operations and procedures is a key priority for Government. In this regard, the Government is committed to improving waiting times for hospital appointments and procedures.

Budget 2020 announced that the Government has further increased investment in tackling waiting lists, with funding to the NTPF increasing from €75 million in 2019 to €100 million in 2020.

My Department is working with the HSE and National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) to develop the Scheduled Care Access Plan 2020. The National Service Plan 2020 will set out HSE planned activity level for the year ahead, while the NTPF will work with the hospital system to provide additionality to improve access to inpatient/daycase treatment and with a particular focus on hospital outpatient services.

In this regard, I would encourage all hospital groups and individual hospitals to engage with the NTPF to identify waiting list proposals for the remainder of this year and for 2020.

The data requested by the Deputy is outlined in the table below. This data is also available on the NTPF website at: https://www.ntpf.ie/home/nwld.htm

Outpatient waiting list 2+ years, 3+ years, & 4+ years

24+ Months

36+ Months

48+ Months

65,732

19,986

3,734

Health Services Access

Ceisteanna (192)

Stephen Donnelly

Ceist:

192. Deputy Stephen Donnelly asked the Minister for Health the medical assessment units, urgent care centres and minor injuries clinics that extended their Monday to Friday hours of opening since 2016, in tabular form. [52261/19]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí scríofa

As this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to you directly as soon as possible.

Health Services Access

Ceisteanna (193)

Stephen Donnelly

Ceist:

193. Deputy Stephen Donnelly asked the Minister for Health the medical assessment units, urgent care centres, and minor injuries clinics that extended hours of opening to weekends since 2016 in tabular form. [52262/19]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí scríofa

As this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to you directly as soon as possible.

Emergency Services Data

Ceisteanna (194)

Stephen Donnelly

Ceist:

194. Deputy Stephen Donnelly asked the Minister for Health the increases in ambulances, EMTs and paramedics that have taken place in each year since 2016. [52263/19]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí scríofa

As this is a service issue, it has been referred to the Health Service Executive for attention and direct reply.

HSE Data

Ceisteanna (195)

Stephen Donnelly

Ceist:

195. Deputy Stephen Donnelly asked the Minister for Health if he will report on the work of the performance management unit in the HSE; the number of whole-time equivalent staff employed; the number of reports and reviews it has undertaken; and the recommendations made by it to improve performance. [52264/19]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí scríofa

As this is an operational matter, I have asked the HSE to reply to you directly.

Hospital Consultant Contracts

Ceisteanna (196)

Stephen Donnelly

Ceist:

196. Deputy Stephen Donnelly asked the Minister for Health when he plans to negotiate a new consultant contract. [52265/19]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí scríofa

My Department published the de Buitléir Report at the end of August, following on from the establishment of the Group to examine how to give effect to the Sláintecare recommendation on the removal of private practice from the public hospital system. The Group has recommended that all new consultant appointments should be to a 'Sláintecare Consultant Contract', resulting in a phased reduction in private practice over time.

The Government is committed to the implementation of Sláintecare. In this regard, my Department, together with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and the HSE, recently met with both the IMO and the IHCA, and will be seeking to continue to engage with both bodies on Sláintecare, the de Buitléir Report and related health service reform.

Health Services Funding

Ceisteanna (197)

Stephen Donnelly

Ceist:

197. Deputy Stephen Donnelly asked the Minister for Health the status of plans to base health expenditure on multi-year budgeting supported by a five-year health service plan based on realistic and verifiable projections. [52266/19]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí scríofa

The Sláintecare Implementation Strategy commits to reforming the funding system to support new models of care and drive value to make better use of resources.

My Department is examining the feasibility of introducing a multi-annual budgeting process including the drafting of a paper to inform the development of proposals for multi-annual budgeting in the healthcare system. Initial discussions in order to establish an interdepartmental working group have taken place during 2019.

HSE Staff Data

Ceisteanna (198)

Stephen Donnelly

Ceist:

198. Deputy Stephen Donnelly asked the Minister for Health the number of staff at national director level, assistant national director level, general manager level and grade VIII level in the HSE on 6 December 2019 or the latest date available. [52267/19]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí scríofa

I have asked the HSE to respond directly to the Deputy on this matter.

HSE National Service Plan

Ceisteanna (199)

Stephen Donnelly

Ceist:

199. Deputy Stephen Donnelly asked the Minister for Health if the HSE is on target to achieve savings, cost reductions or improved income generation in a number of areas set out in the HSE 2019 service plan (details supplied); and the achievements in each to date in 2019 in tabular form. [52268/19]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí scríofa

The HSE in the National Service Plan 2019 presented three ranges of actions/initiatives to address the financial challenge in 2019. These are cost reduction or improved income generation, limit cost growth and technical financial savings.

The National Service Plan set out indicative savings types and targets within the three initiatives from which a savings target level was applied to service areas within the HSE. As part of the HSE’s annual operations planning process for 2019, the individual hospitals and CHO’s managers had responsibility for identifying the specific types of savings to be achieved. This ensured that local managers identified achievable cost savings within their service area. The HSE, therefore, reports monthly progress on savings under the three main ranges of actions rather than the specific proposed types of savings as set out in the Service Plan.

In relation to the cost reduction/improved income generation actions/initiatives the HSE has reported performance to September 2019 as follows.

Service Area

Profile to Sept’19

Actual to Sept’19

Acute Hospitals

€40m

€35m

Community Operations

€30m

€30m

National Divisions

€11m

€25m

Other including PCRS

€16m

€5m

Total

€97m

€95m

Hospital Services

Ceisteanna (200)

Stephen Donnelly

Ceist:

200. Deputy Stephen Donnelly asked the Minister for Health the progress made to date in the implementation of the 45 recommendations of the trauma steering group in tabular form. [52269/19]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí scríofa

As this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to you directly as soon as possible.

Cancer Screening Programmes

Ceisteanna (201)

Stephen Donnelly

Ceist:

201. Deputy Stephen Donnelly asked the Minister for Health the progress made to date in the implementation of the recommendations of the Scally report in tabular form. [52270/19]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí scríofa

Following publication of the Final Report of the Scoping Inquiry into the CervicalCheck Screening Programme in September 2018, a comprehensive Implementation Plan was developed to support implementation of all recommendations made by the Scoping Inquiry. The Implementation Plan was approved by Government and published on the website of my Department. The Plan was later revised to take account of the two additional recommendations made by Dr Scally’s team in the Supplementary Report of the Scoping Inquiry, in June 2019.

On 10 July, Dr Scally wrote to me and confirmed that the work of the Scoping Inquiry has concluded.

I remain committed to publishing progress reports, on a quarterly basis, to provide details of the work underway across the health system to implement all 58 recommendations arising from the three reports of the Scoping Inquiry. These progress reports are available on my Department’s website at the following link: https://www.gov.ie/en/collection/ab552a-implementation-of-recommendations-scoping-inquiry-into-the-cervicalc/

As of the end of Quarter 3 2019, there are 170 actions arising from the 58 recommendations. There has been significant progress by all parties to date, and the number of completed actions as of end Q3 was 112 out of 170. A further 27 actions are in progress, 19 are overdue to finish and 5 are overdue to start, and 7 are not yet due to start. Further detail on the work underway in relation to individual actions is provided in tabular and narrative form in the detailed reports published at the link above.

HSE Agency Staff Expenditure

Ceisteanna (202)

Stephen Donnelly

Ceist:

202. Deputy Stephen Donnelly asked the Minister for Health the amount the HSE spent on agency staff each month in 2018 and to date in 2019; the proportion of the anticipated agency staff expenditure by the HSE for 2019 incurred to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52271/19]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí scríofa

I have asked the HSE to respond directly to the Deputy on this matter.

Prescriptions Charges

Ceisteanna (203)

Stephen Donnelly

Ceist:

203. Deputy Stephen Donnelly asked the Minister for Health the amount collected in prescription charges for medical card prescriptions in each of the years 2015 to 2018; and the amount projected for 2019. [52272/19]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí scríofa

Under the Health (Pricing and Supply of Medical Goods) Act 2013, the HSE has statutory responsibility for the administration of the community drug schemes; therefore, the matter has been referred to the HSE for attention and direct reply to the Deputy.

Hospital Discharges

Ceisteanna (204)

Stephen Donnelly

Ceist:

204. Deputy Stephen Donnelly asked the Minister for Health the number of elective inpatient discharges in each public and voluntary hospital to the end of November 2019. [52273/19]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí scríofa

In relation to the specific matter raised, as this is a service matter, I have asked the HSE to respond directly to the Deputy.

Ambulance Service Data

Ceisteanna (205)

Stephen Donnelly

Ceist:

205. Deputy Stephen Donnelly asked the Minister for Health the number of emergency ambulances decommissioned by the National Ambulance Service; the number of new emergency ambulances acquired; the number of intermediate care ambulances decommissioned by the National Ambulance Service; the number of new intermediate care ambulances acquired; the number of rapid response vehicles decommissioned by the National Ambulance Service; the number of new rapid response vehicles acquired; the number of vehicles commissioned and purchased as rapid response vehicles by the National Ambulance Service acquired; the number in use; the number awaiting entry into service to date in 2019; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52274/19]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí scríofa

As this is a service issue, it has been referred to the Health Service Executive for attention and direct reply.

Ambulance Service Data

Ceisteanna (206)

Stephen Donnelly

Ceist:

206. Deputy Stephen Donnelly asked the Minister for Health the number of emergency ambulances in service by the year in which they entered service, pods and vehicles; the date on which they entered service; the HSE region in which they are based; the number of intermediate care ambulances in service by the year in which they entered service, pods and vehicles; the date on which they entered service the HSE region in which they are based in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52275/19]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí scríofa

As this is a service issue, it has been referred to the Health Service Executive for attention and direct reply.

Ambulance Service Data

Ceisteanna (207)

Stephen Donnelly

Ceist:

207. Deputy Stephen Donnelly asked the Minister for Health the distances travelled by emergency, intermediate care ambulances and rapid response vehicles in service in such a capacity by HSE region subdivided by each 50,000 miles and or 80,000 kms, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52276/19]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí scríofa

As this is a service issue, it has been referred to the Health Service Executive for attention and direct reply.

General Practitioner Data

Ceisteanna (208)

Stephen Donnelly

Ceist:

208. Deputy Stephen Donnelly asked the Minister for Health the number of general practitioner vacancies in each local health area in tabular form. [52277/19]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí scríofa

As this question relates to a service matter, I have arranged for it to be referred to the Health Service Executive for direct reply to the Deputy

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