Written Answers Nos. 401-410
401. Deputy Noel Grealish asked the Minister for Health if funding will be allocated to a community-based counselling and psychotherapy service (details supplied) in Galway city, that provides counselling services to adults over 18 years of age and who receive a significant number of referrals from general practitioners; the funding schemes are available from his Department for this group; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33294/22]
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.
402. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Health when a person (details supplied) will receive their pension given that they retired November 2022 and have been waiting for their pension papers to be processed since than; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33324/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs this is an operational matter for the HSE, I have asked the HSE to respond directly to the Deputy.
403. Deputy Paul Kehoe asked the Minister for Health the procedure that should be followed and the potential repercussions regarding the eligibility of a person (details supplied) for the fair deal scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33325/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Nursing Homes Support Scheme (NHSS), commonly referred to as 'Fair Deal', is a system of financial support for people who require long-term residential care. The primary legislation underpinning the NHSS is the Nursing Homes Support Scheme Act 2009. Participants in the NHSS contribute to the cost of their care according to their means while the State pays the balance of the cost. The Scheme aims to ensure that long-term nursing home care is accessible and affordable for everyone, and that people are cared for in the most appropriate settings.
Under the rules of the scheme, a person is assessed on the basis of their income and assets. Up to 80% of a person's income and 7.5% of the value of their assets per year must be paid towards their cost of care. Legislative amendments are currently being brought forward to apply a lower rate of assessment, at 40%, to rental income from a person's principal residence. This measure will reduce a disincentive against renting out a home that would otherwise remain vacant.
If an individual wishes to make their home available, including refugees, and derives no income from the arrangement, then this will have no impact on their financial assessment.
404. Deputy David Cullinane asked the Minister for Health further to Parliamentary Question No. 1814 of 14 June 2022, the breakdown of validation figures by month and by category; the processes used in and process of validation; the categorisations used for recording purposes; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33335/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraIn order to ensure the accuracy of waiting lists, good practice around the management of hospital waiting lists recommends periodic administrative validation. Validation is the process whereby hospitals contact patients on waiting lists in writing at pre-planned intervals during the year to ensure that patients are ready, willing, suitable and available to attend for hospital care or wish to be removed from the waiting list. For a number of years validation was conducted at individual hospital level in Ireland but in September 2018 the Minister for Health approved the establishment of the validation function within the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF). The establishment of a centralised function has facilitated the introduction of a standardised approach to validation of waiting lists across hospitals and across Inpatient and Day Case (IPDC) and Outpatient (OPD) waiting lists.
The NTPF have advised my Department that the following cohorts of patients are included in the Validation Programme for 2022:
- Active patients on Inpatient, Daycase (IPDC), GI Scope and Outpatient (OP) waiting lists over 6 months without a TCI or an appointment date.
- Active patients on Inpatient, Daycase, GI scope and Outpatient waiting lists over 6 months with a TCI or appointment date outside the six week timeframe from the date of the report.
- Patients who fail to respond to Outpatient Commissioning Offer letters.
In addition, the NTPF have advised that updated validation guidance was issued to hospitals to include patients in excess of 3 months in validation programmes where appropriate.
The process, developed by the NTPF, HSE, and my Department, in consultation with stakeholders and experts, involves patients receiving a letter from their hospital, asking them to return the letter in the freepost envelope supplied or reply online, indicating whether they still require their procedure/appointment.
Those patients who still require a procedure or appointment will remain on the waiting list. Those who respond that they no longer require the procedure will be removed from the waiting list in accordance with the National Inpatient, Day Case, Planned Procedure (IDPP) Protocol 2017 and the National Outpatient Waiting List Management Protocol 2022. Where no response is received within two weeks, a reminder letter is sent and if there is no response within a further two weeks, the patient and the patient’s GP will receive a letter advising that the patient has been removed from the waiting list. If the patient or GP considers the procedure or appointment is still required, the patient will be reinstated, maintaining their original place on the list.
In an effort to improve efficiencies in the national validation process, and provide a convenient, secure response option for patients participating in validation, the NTPF developed and rolled out an additional Patient Online Automated Response option (POLAR). Patients can now go online via POLAR and provide up to date information in relation to their waiting list status; alternatively, they can still use the pre-paid envelope provided
In terms of categorisation used for recording purposes, validation activity and statistics are recorded by the NTPF and shared to my Department as per the cohorts of patients validated, with patients listed based on the type of waiting lists on which they sit (IPDC/OPD). For the purposes of responding to Parliamentary Question No.1814 of 14 June 2022, the NTPF provided an annual and year-to-date breakdown of validation by hospital and by IPDC/OPD waiting list. The validation process is carried out through cycles where the NTPF works with individual hospitals, via specified waiting lists, in order to identify appropriate patient cohorts to validate, generate reports, contact patients, allow for response time, response collation, and patient removal. As such a breakdown of validation figures by hospital each month does not reflect the appropriate activity and removal rates of the validation cycle. In addition, to generate such a report would require significant manual intervention as it does not correlate with how the validation process operates in practice.
405. Deputy David Cullinane asked the Minister for Health the number of children with autism and special needs who have been referred to an organisation (details supplied) for an assessment for the years 2021 and to date in 2022; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33336/22]
Amharc ar fhreagra406. Deputy David Cullinane asked the Minister for Health the number of children with autism and special needs who have been referred to an organisation (details supplied) for an assessment for the years 2021 and to date in 2022; the number of children for whom an assessment has been initiated; the number of children for whom an assessment has been concluded, broken down by CHO and children's disability network team; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33337/22]
Amharc ar fhreagra407. Deputy David Cullinane asked the Minister for Health the total funding provided to an organisation (details supplied) for the carrying out of assessments and for the provision of other services to children with disabilities on children's disability network team waiting lists in each CHO for the years 2021 and to date in 2022; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33338/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 405, 406 and 407 together.
As the Deputy's questions relate to service issues, they have been referred to the HSE for direct reply.
408. Deputy David Cullinane asked the Minister for Health the number of community pharmacists employed in the State; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33339/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland is the statutory regulator of pharmacists and pharmacies in Ireland and maintains Registers in this regard in the interest of delivering on its vision and mandate to assure trust in pharmacy services.
I would not have access to the information relating to the number of community pharmacists employed in the State. Notwithstanding that I can confirm that there are currently 6856 names entered in the Register of Pharmacists with 4410 of these individuals declaring their area of practice as “Community”. A further 1215 do not declare this information and the reminder have specified academic, hospital, industry, regulatory and other.
409. Deputy David Cullinane asked the Minister for Health his plans to work with the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science to increase third level places for pharmacists; if he agrees that there is a shortage of community pharmacists; the action that he is taking to address such shortages; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33340/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraThank you for raising this issue. This is a complex problem with many contributing factors and multiple stakeholders. Workforce challenges are being experienced in other sectors nationally, and in the pharmacy sector in a range of other countries. However, robust data for Ireland is needed to be able to determine the current landscape, assess future health system needs and understand existing sectoral challenges now and into the future.
I understand that currently there are reports of a current acute workforce issue, particularly in relation to community pharmacy. The Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland (PSI) has been liaising with stakeholders, including the Irish Pharmacy Union (IPU), on efforts being taken within the sector to understand and address the issue. ?In February 2022, PSI met with a number of superintendent pharmacists and the IPU. The PSI also circulated a survey on behalf of the IPU to all registrants to support in efforts in understanding and addressing the issue in the short term, the results of which are pending. ?I understand that the IPU is seeking to establish a stakeholder group to examine the issue, that will seek sectoral participation and will include officials from my department.?
The PSI is undertaking a project, due to run across 2022-’23, ‘Emerging Risks to the Future Pharmacy Workforce’. In 2022, this project is set to “assess emerging risks to the continued availability of a professional pharmacy workforce within community and hospital pharmacy in Ireland”.
The European Commission is also currently supporting a health and social care workforce planning strategy and action plan, a health and social care workforce planning model, health and social care workforce projections and gap analysis project. Support includes recommendations for health and social care workforce reforms.
There are currently three Schools of Pharmacy within universities in Ireland – TCD, RCSI and UCC who each provide an accredited five-year fully integrated Master’s degree programme in pharmacy (MPharm). On successful completion of the five-year programme, graduates are then eligible to apply to the PSI for registration through the National Route of registration. As part of their Emerging Risks to the Future Pharmacy Workforce project, PSI have committed to share any relevant data emerging as part of that project with relevant Government departments, along with relevant first-time registration data with the relevant Government departments, particularly if trends are identified that indicate a future deficit.
It will be on the basis of gathering and analysing up-to-date, robust and relevant data, that recommendations can be proposed to address Ireland’s needs for a pharmacist workforce in the future, as Ireland’s healthcare system evolves, and in the context of Sláintecare implementation. I will engage as necessary with government colleagues in addressing relevant issues as they arise.
410. Deputy David Cullinane asked the Minister for Health if he supports the inclusion of community pharmacists on the critical skills occupations list; if he has engaged with the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment on this issue; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33341/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraIreland’s employment permits system is managed by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment. It is designed to attract highly skilled workers from outside the EEA to Ireland, to meet skills demand in the economy where those skills can’t be accessed through the resident labour force, in the short to medium term. This objective must be balanced by the need to ensure that there are no suitably qualified Irish/EEA nationals available to undertake the work and that the shortage is a genuine one. The system is vacancy led and managed through the operation of the Critical Skills and Ineligible Occupations Lists which determine employments that are either in high demand or are ineligible for an employment permit where it is evidenced that there is more than sufficient availability of those skills in the domestic and EEA labour market.
Pharmacists wishing to practice in Ireland must be registered with the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland (PSI – the Pharmacy Regulator). The number of registered pharmacists on the Register of Pharmacists held and maintained by the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland (PSI), the pharmacy regulator has continued to grow steadily, with an average increase of 187 registrants each year over the past five years. 6846 pharmacists are currently registered with the PSI, under established processes based in Irish and EU law.
Although not having a direct role in the recruitment of pharmacist the PSI are aware of reports from stakeholders, of an increasing risk to the continued availability of a pharmacist workforce, with the concern being that the issue may be exacerbated into the future. This has a knock-on impact on pharmacist vacancies, and potentially on continuity and consistency of service. As a result, the PSI is undertaking a project, due to run across 2022-’23, ‘Emerging Risks to the Future Pharmacy Workforce’. In 2022, this project is set to “assess emerging risks to the continued availability of a professional pharmacy workforce within community and hospital pharmacy in Ireland”.
The Deputy will be pleased to hear that I support the inclusion of pharmacists on the critical skills occupations list and that Minister of State for Business, Employment and Retail, Damien English TD, has recently announced changes made by Statutory Instrument to the employment permits system which includes adding the occupation of Pharmacist to the Critical Skills Occupations List. This means that Pharmacists are now eligible for a Critical Skills Employment Permit.
