Written Answers Nos. 1044-1062
1044. Deputy Fergus O'Dowd asked the Minister for Health further to Parliamentary Question No. 2709 of 27 July 2021, if a response can now issue in respect of whether BreastCheck services in counties Louth and Meath have recommenced; the locations in operation pre-Covid-19; the locations in operation presently; the reason for any removal of services; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53001/21]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs this is a service matter, it has been referred to the Health Service Executive for attention and direct reply to the Deputy.
1045. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Minister for Health the remit, membership and terms of reference for the abortion legislation review group; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53003/21]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act 2018 was signed into law on 20 December 2018 and commenced on 1 January 2019. Section 7 of the Act states that “The Minister shall, not later than 3 years after the commencement of this section, carry out a review of the operation of this Act”.
The review of the operation of the Act is being progressed this year, in line with statutory and Government commitments.
As I have stated previously, an independent expert will be appointed to lead the review, which will comprise a three-part approach to appraise the operation of the Act, with strands focusing on service users, service providers and a public consultation.
An opportunity will be provided in the coming months for interested groups, organisations and members of the public to provide their views to inform the review.
Upon completion of the review, a full report with any necessary recommendations, will be submitted to me, as Minister, for consideration. I will submit my recommendations, with the report, to Government.
1046. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Minister for Health the details and timelines for the review of the Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act 2018; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53004/21]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act 2018 was signed into law on 20 December 2018 and commenced on 1 January 2019. Section 7 of the Act states that “The Minister shall, not later than 3 years after the commencement of this section, carry out a review of the operation of this Act”.
The review of the operation of the Act is being progressed this year, in line with statutory and Government commitments.
As I have stated previously, an independent expert will be appointed to lead the review, which will comprise a three-part approach to appraise the operation of the Act, with strands focusing on service users, service providers and a public consultation.
Upon completion of the review, a full report with any necessary recommendations, will be submitted to me, as Minister, for consideration. I will submit my recommendations, with the report, to Government.
1047. Deputy Patrick Costello asked the Minister for Health if he will commit funding under the Sláintecare healthy communities fund to a location (details supplied) in Dublin 8 opening access to the public; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53020/21]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe objective for the Sláintecare Healthy Communities Programme is to improve the long-term health and wellbeing of communities across Ireland. Healthy Communities will support the physical and mental health of the communities as well as support improvement in the wider determinants of health in those communities, such as education, housing, social support and the built environment.
The programme is a cross-government initiative to deliver increased health and wellbeing services to 19 community areas across Ireland. The programme will be delivered in partnership with the HSE, local authorities, local communities, statutory, voluntary and community groups.
The 19 Healthy community are all Social Inclusion and Community Activation Programme areas. The Department of Health worked with the HSE Health Intelligence unit in choosing the communities and with Local Authorities to finalise the areas. The 19 communities span 14 local authorities and are a mix of urban and rural areas.
The 19 areas selected for inclusion in the programme are as follows:
1. Athlone & Mullingar (Westmeath)
2. Athy (Kildare)
3. Ballymun (Dublin)
4. Bray (Wicklow)
5. Cavan Town and County (Cavan)
6. Cherry Orchard (Dublin)
7. Clondalkin (Dublin)
8. Clonmel (Tipperary)
9. Enniscorthy & Wexford Town (Wexford)
10. Finglas & Cabra (Dublin)
11. Gaeltacht (Donegal)
12. Inishowen (Donegal)
13. Kilmore & Priorswood (Dublin)
14. Limerick City (Limerick)
15. Longford Town (Longford)
16. North Cork City (Cork)
17. Tallaght (Dublin)
18. Waterford City (Waterford)
19. West Mayo (Mayo)
€10,000,000 is being provided in funding for the HSE to deliver, in partnership with local agencies and community groups, a series of services including health (e.g. smoking cessation, nutrition), wellbeing and mental health (e.g. social prescribing, Make Every Contact Count), family support (e.g. parenting programmes) with dedicated resources and staff.
Further to this, we are providing €3,000,0000 for a Local Development Officer for each community who will be employed in the Local Authority. A local implementation team will be set up as a subgroup of the LCDC within the existing local authorities’ structures and will be chaired by the Local Development Officer. A National Development Officer with whom the 19 Local Development Officers will work with is also being recruited.
Additionally, my Department has contributed once off funding of €4,750,000 to the communities in the form of a Community Enhancement Scheme. This enhancement funding is to support projects that will positively impact on the health and wellbeing of those who live within the 19 Communities. This scheme has demonstrated a collaborative approach with local authorities working together with the local community and stakeholders to identify projects that support the increased use of, and access to, amenities in their areas and that invoke an improved sense of community. These will not only provide an outlet for the communities in which they are situated, but they will also deliver added value from a social determinants of health perspective, positioning communities to respond to the post-COVID-19 impacts on health and wellbeing.
Among the projects to receive approval for funding are Community Garden and Growing initiatives, Health Activity Hubs, community kitchens and social spaces and recreational development and enhancement initiatives. These include outdoor table tennis tables, upgraded walking and running trails which are accessible for all, innovative natural play areas for children, additional outdoor furniture, bike fleets, and many more interesting and noteworthy projects.
In answer to the Deputy's original question about funding for a particular specified area, Dublin 8 is not one of 19 communities under the first phase of the Programme.
1048. Deputy Darren O'Rourke asked the Minister for Health the number of full-time urology nurse specialists at both CHI Crumlin and CHI Temple Street in each of the years 2018, 2019, 2020 and to date in 2021, in tabular form; and if this number will be further increased. [53037/21]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.
1049. Deputy Darren O'Rourke asked the Minister for Health if funding will be provided for the recruitment of an additional full-time consultant neurologist with a special interest in sleep medicine for St. James's Hospital. [53038/21]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to the deputy directly, as soon as possible.
1050. Deputy Darren O'Rourke asked the Minister for Health the way the €1.4 million new funding for crisis resolution services will be spent in 2022. [53039/21]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs this is a service matter I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond directly to the Deputy as soon as possible.
1051. Deputy Darren O'Rourke asked the Minister for Health if funding will be provided in 2022 for the recruitment of two additional full-time craniofacial surgeons. [53040/21]
Amharc ar fhreagraIn relation to the particular query raised, as this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.
1052. Deputy Darren O'Rourke asked the Minister for Health the number of full-time mental health intellectual disability consultants working in CHO 8 in 2019, 2020 and to date in 2021, in tabular form. [53041/21]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond directly to the Deputy, as soon as possible.
1053. Deputy Darren O'Rourke asked the Minister for Health the number of full-time consultant vascular surgeons attached to St. Vincent's University Hospital in each of the years 2019, 2020 and to date in 2021, in tabular form. [53042/21]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to the deputy directly, as soon as possible.
1054. Deputy Darren O'Rourke asked the Minister for Health the number of full-time advanced nurse practitioner allocated to paediatric neurosurgery services in CHI Temple Street in 2019, 2020 and to date in 2021, in tabular form; and if this number will be further increased. [53043/21]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.
1055. Deputy Violet-Anne Wynne asked the Minister for Health the reason the Food Safety Authority Ireland warning in relation to cannabis jellies was administered through the school system; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53070/21]
Amharc ar fhreagra1056. Deputy Violet-Anne Wynne asked the Minister for Health if his attention has been drawn to the fact that the recent warning issued from the Food Safety Authority of Ireland through the school system may cause negative consequences for the school-going children availing of the medicinal cannabis access programme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53071/21]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 1055 and 1056 together.
Tetrahydrocannabinol is a psychotropic substance which is controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1977 and can be harmful to human health if consumed. The Department of Health is concerned that consumption of these illegal cannabis edibles would pose significant public health risks. The Department is in close contact with the Food Safety Authority of Ireland and other State Agencies working to curb the availability of these products in Ireland.
The FSAI initiated engagement with the Department of Education when it became aware of these illegal cannabis edibles being available in some school settings. Some schools had already sent out alerts to parents earlier in 2021 of their own volition warning parents of the dangers and potential availability of these edibles in the school setting. The FSAI advice on illegal cannabis edibles formed a short entry in the Department of Education circular to schools and was meant as a proactive measure by FSAI to encourage parents and guardians to proactively discuss the dangers of illegal cannabis edibles with their children in case they are offered to them in a school or social setting. This proactive approach by FSAI is justified by the evidence of availability of illegal cannabis edibles from Garda and customs seizures in 2021 along with the Irish Medical Journal publication about the hospitalisation of six children under ten years of age suffering serious health consequences after unwittingly consuming illegal cannabis edibles carelessly stored by older siblings and other people.
Statutory Instrument 262/2019 “The Misuse of Drugs (Prescription and Control of Supply of Cannabis for Medical Use) Regulations 2019” sets out the legal provisions for the operation of the Medical Cannabis Access Programme and the legal obligations for healthcare professionals and commercial operators. It also sets out how the access programme will work, who can avail of it, how it will be operated by the HSE and how cannabis-based products, made from whole dried flowers of the plant, are accepted for use under the programme and placed on Schedule 1 of the Regulations SI. Given the legislative basis of the programme and the fact that patients availing of the MCAP are being monitored by their treating consultants I would trust that there would no conflation between that and illicit use of a harmful controlled substance.
1057. Deputy Jennifer Carroll MacNeill asked the Minister for Health the status of the Sunday day care centre in Leopardstown Hospital; the measures being taken to reopen fully for its patrons; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53084/21]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to the deputy directly, as soon as possible.
1058. Deputy Richard Bruton asked the Minister for Health if his Department has set a policy that overseas doctors can only obtain a six month contract; and if this practice makes it more difficult to attract such staff and disrupts the sort of continuity which manpower and care planning requires. [53090/21]
Amharc ar fhreagraIn relation to the particular query raised, as this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.
1059. Deputy Marc Ó Cathasaigh asked the Minister for Health the amount of his Department’s budget for 2022 which is being considered as part of Official Development Assistance in the context of international aid; the measures this budget will be spent on; the section in his Department that will be overseeing this; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53095/21]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Department of Foreign Affairs is the lead Department with responsibility for Ireland’s development assistance programme and it works closely with the relevant policy units in my Department.
In January 2021, €1,603,799.28 was paid by my Department in assessed contributions to the World Health Organisation (WHO). Assessed contributions are a key source of financing for the WHO as they provide predictable financing and allow resources to be aligned to the WHO's overall programme budget. Under the current criteria of the OECD’s Development Assistance Committee, 76% of WHO assessed contributions are classified as Official Development Assistance (ODA), which would amount to €1,218,887 in 2021.
Additionally in 2021, funding of €623,953 was provided to the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) by my Department, of which 51% or €318,216 is considered ODA.
Contributions of a similar level are expected in 2022. It should be noted that the ODA percentage attributions outlined above are potentially subject to adjustment following review by the OECD.
Covid-related in-kind donations to a number of countries, as well as donations of vaccines, are also considered to be ODA; these contributions will also be factored into Ireland's overall ODA expenditure.
1060. Deputy Marc Ó Cathasaigh asked the Minister for Health the details of the recruitment plans for neurology nurse specialists for University Hospital Waterford; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53098/21]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to the deputy directly, as soon as possible.
1061. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Health if a person (details supplied) was paying the correct amount in a nursing home; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53102/21]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to the deputy directly, as soon as possible.
1062. Deputy Maurice Quinlivan asked the Minister for Health if the excessive wait time for obtaining an MRI scan at University Hospital Limerick for a person (details supplied) will be addressed. [53111/21]
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.
In relation to the particular query raised, as this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to the deputy directly, as soon as possible.
