Written Answers Nos. 100-119
100. Deputy Róisín Shortall asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if he will honour his commitment to legislate to ensure women going through a cancer diagnosis or other serious illness during maternity leave can defer that leave while they recover; the timeline he is working towards; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22063/24]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Maternity Protection Act 1994 and the Maternity Protection (Amendment) Act 2004 provide a pregnant employee with six months of paid maternity leave and an additional 16 weeks of unpaid leave. All forms of family leave are kept under review to ensure that they are effective in supporting families and children.
In October I announced plans to introduce legislation to allow women undergoing treatment for cancer or other serious illnesses postpone their maternity leave.
It is planned to bring this forward together with a number of amendments arising out of my Department’s review of Ireland’s equality legislation. My officials are finalising these proposals and I intend to bring them to Cabinet for approval in the coming weeks.
101. Deputy Holly Cairns asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if she will consider extending the Parental Leave (Amendment) Act 2019 from the age of 12 to 18 years. [22067/24]
Amharc ar fhreagraUnder the Parental Leave Act 1998 (as amended), an employee who is a relevant parent in respect of a child under the age 12 is entitled to 26 weeks unpaid parental leave for each child. Where a child has a disability or long-term illness, the entitlement can continue until the child is 16. A relevant parent is a parent, an adoptive parent, or a person acting in ‘loco parentis’. There have been significant developments in the entitlements to family leaves for working families in recent years, and this includes the extension of the parental leave entitlements in 2019 from 18 weeks to 26 weeks, and the extension of the time period in which the leave can be taken from when the child attains the age of 8 years to when the child attains the age of 12 years. The focus of family leave is on the younger child because it is considered that benefits of such leave are greatest for younger children. The Work Life Balance and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2023 was enacted on 4 April 2023, and introduces further important entitlements for workers, including leave for medical care purposes for parents of children under 12, and the right to request flexible working for parents and carers. The right to request flexible working for parents and carers and remote working for all employees was commenced on 6 March 2024 following the preparation of a Code of Practice by the Workplace Relations Commission under Part 4. The Code includes guidance for employers and employees on their obligations regarding compliance. Family leave provisions are kept under review to ensure that they are appropriate to the needs of working parents. Mindful of the significant new leave entitlements being brought forward this year through the Work Life Balance and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2023, however, there are no current plans to modify entitlements to parental leave.
102. Deputy Michael Ring asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if additional funding can be made available for a service (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22085/24]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs this question refers to service matters, I have asked the Health Service Executive (HSE) to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.
103. Deputy Michael Ring asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the number of business cases (details supplied) currently awaiting funding; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22086/24]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs this question refers to service matters, I have asked the Health Service Executive (HSE) to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.
104. Deputy Mark Ward asked the Minister for Health for an update on the development of the model of care for ADHD in children and young people by the HSE; the timeline for completion; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21914/24]
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.
105. Deputy Neasa Hourigan asked the Minister for Health the status of the HSE review of national guidelines for daily car parking rates in acute hospitals; whether a working group has been established; the timelines associated with this review process; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21924/24]
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.
106. Deputy Neasa Hourigan asked the Minister for Health his plans for additional legislative reform in regard to nicotine inhaling products and tobacco products; his engagement with colleagues in Northern Ireland further to draft legislation in Stormont relating to a smoke-free generation and youth vaping; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21925/24]
Amharc ar fhreagraI intend to develop further legislation to regulate both tobacco products and nicotine inhaling products.
This week I received Cabinet approval to draft a Bill to increase the age of sale for tobacco products to 21. This is a much-needed measure to accelerate our progress towards a tobacco free Ireland and protect children and young people from this lethal product. It is my intention to seek priority drafting for this Bill and have a draft for introduction into the Houses of the Oireachtas as soon as possible.
I am also developing legislation to further regulate nicotine inhaling products with the aim of reducing youth vaping. This legislation will be guided by a recent public consultation seeking views on a range of interventions, as well as evidence reviews and regulatory impact assessment to ensure that any measures are effective.
There has been ongoing engagement between my officials and officials from the Department of Health in Northern Ireland around similar measures being proposed there, with a view to regulatory alignment where possible.
107. Deputy Neasa Hourigan asked the Minister for Health if he will provide, in tabular form, the total number of people who attended a pigmented lesion rapid access clinic nationally; and the number who were offered an appointment within the recommended timeframe, in each quarter from 2016 to 2024, respectively. [21926/24]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs this is a service matter, I have asked the HSE to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.
108. Deputy Neasa Hourigan asked the Minister for Health if he will provide, in tabular form, the total number of people who received a cancer diagnosis via the pigmented lesion rapid access clinic, in each quarter from 2016 to 2024, respectively. [21927/24]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs this is a service matter, I have asked the HSE to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.
109. Deputy Neasa Hourigan asked the Minister for Health if he will provide, in tabular form, the number of people who were waiting on a diagnostic scan - MRI, CT, VUS, US - in Ireland, in each quarter from 2016 to 2024, respectively. [21928/24]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe HSE advises that a pilot project commenced in 2016 by the HSE Acute Hospitals Division to progress the collection of national radiology waiting list data. The project has been supported by the Radiology Clinical Care Programme and has involved key stakeholders across the system including the National Integrated Medical Imaging System (NIMIS) Team, Hospital Groups, and the support of the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) for data collection and data management expertise.
The information that is currently being collected is presently being tested and validated at hospital, hospital group and national level and as such should not be used/reported without the context of the caveats set out below:
• Data is subject to inclusions and exclusions which are documented in the Data Profile Document. This document is available from Acute Operations and has been circulated to all Hospital Groups.
• Data contains urgent, routine and surveillance/planned activity which is currently not broken down in detail, as such this includes surveillance/planned activity which may not be exceeding planned date.
• Data is still undergoing validation at Hospital and Hospital Group level. Data does not take into account local nuances at site level (Site profile developed to support understanding of same).
• The purpose of this aggregate data is to provide a National Level overview of the number of patients waiting for modalities of CT, MRI and Ultrasound.
• This report is not intended to be used for the active management of hospital diagnostics waiting list, local reports and mechanisms should continue to be used for the management of diagnostics waiting lists at hospital level.
The NTPF provides my Department with Quarterly reports which set out waiting list data for CT, MRI and Ultrasound. The HSE advises that, at present, further diagnostic scans (including cholangiopancreatography, electroencephalogram, angiogram, electrocardiogram and bone scan), are not yet captured as part of this project.
The NTPF has advised my Department that diagnostic reports are available from 2019 onwards. I have provided the Deputy with reports for each quarter in the years 2019 to 2022 in response to Parliamentary Question No. 179 of 25 January 2023. At the following links are diagnostic reports for each Quarter in 2023 and Quarter 1 in 2024.
At the end of Quarter 1 2024, there was a total of 276,004 patients reported on the waiting list from all sites, this represents all outpatients waiting, urgent, semi urgent, routine and planned/surveillance (where diagnostic access is planned at particular time intervals).
To ensure that Deputies have access to these quarterly diagnostic reports as soon as they are available, my Department will put an arrangement in place whereby the reports can be provided to Deputies once they have been received from the NTPF, and will contact the Deputy directly in this regard.
110. Deputy Neasa Hourigan asked the Minister for Health if he will provide, in tabular form, the number of persons who started chemotherapy, by month, in each of the years 2020 to 2024, respectively. [21929/24]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs this is a service matter, I have asked the HSE to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.
111. Deputy Neasa Hourigan asked the Minister for Health if he will provide the number of persons attending chemotherapy within the recommended timeframe, by month, in each of the years 2020 to 2024, respectively. [21930/24]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs this is a service matter, I have asked the HSE to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.
112. Deputy Neasa Hourigan asked the Minister for Health if he will provide the proportion of persons attending chemotherapy within the recommended timeframe, by month, in each of the years 2020 to 2024, respectively. [21931/24]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs this is a service matter, I have asked the HSE to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.
113. Deputy Neasa Hourigan asked the Minister for Health the maximum time a person will wait to access a chemotherapy appointment; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21932/24]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs this is a service matter, I have asked the HSE to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.
114. Deputy Seán Crowe asked the Minister for Health the number of people awaiting on a first outpatient appointment in the Royal Victoria Eye and Ear Hospital; the average waiting time for a first outpatient appointment; and the number waiting more than two years for a first appointment. [21937/24]
Amharc ar fhreagraIt is acknowledged that many patients are still waiting too long for hospital appointments and treatments.
As part of the multi-annual approach to reducing waiting lists, and just as importantly the length of time that patients are waiting, I published the 2024 Waiting List Action Plan on 27th March. Total funding of €360 million has been provided for the plan this year which sets out 19 Actions across three themes: Delivering Capacity, Reforming Scheduled Care and Enabling Scheduled Care Reform.
The Waiting List Action Plan, multi-annual approach, initiated in 2021, encompasses a two-pronged approach of short-term actions to increase capacity and activity in the short to immediate term, and longer-term reform measures to sustainably reduce and reform hospital waiting lists and waiting times. The 2024 Plan builds on the work of previous plans which have achieved significant progress in overall waiting list reduction and in addressing long waiting times, against a backdrop of significantly increased demand for scheduled care services. This year’s plan aims to achieve a reduction in the overall number of patients on waiting lists while three of the four overarching targets in the Plan are specifically focused on improving waiting times.
With regard to the information requested by the Deputy, the National Treatment Purchase Fund has provided my Department with the information set out at the link. The table outlines the number of patients on the Outpatient waiting list for the Royal Victoria Eye and Ear Hospital in the time bands requested at the end of April 2024. The NTPF has advised my Department that the health system does not collect the data necessary to calculate average wait times. In particular, the time to treatment of patients who have already received their care is not collected.
The NTPF collects data on patients currently on the waiting list, and the average time these patients have been waiting is set out at the following link.
Outpatient waiting list for the Royal Victoria Eye and Ear Hospital
115. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Health if consideration will be given to extending the upper age limit for BreastCheck; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21944/24]
Amharc ar fhreagraI am fully committed to supporting our population screening programmes, which are a valuable part of our health service. They enable early treatment and care for many people and improve the overall health of our population.
BreastCheck, the National Breast Screening Programme, currently invites women aged 50 to 69 years at regular periods to have a routine mammogram. Under commitments in the Programme for Government, BreastCheck eligibility has been expanded to women aged 69 years since 2021.
In response to the Deputy's question, I will highlight that any decisions about further changes in cancer screening, including further extension of the age ranges, will be made on the advice of the National Screening Advisory Committee (NSAC). Importantly, this is an independent expert group that considers and assesses evidence in a robust and transparent manner and against internationally accepted criteria. It is important we have rigorous processes in place to ensure our screening programmes are effective, quality assured, operating to safe standards, and that the benefits of screening outweigh the harms. Careful consideration must be given to any proposed expansion of Ireland’s screening programmes, and this process must be afforded the necessary amount of time to complete. This includes ensuring that decisions are made based on internationally accepted criteria and scientific rigour.
In this regard, I am pleased to inform you that NSAC is already progressing in work to consider the further expansion of Ireland’s screening programs. On the basis of a request from NSAC, the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) has commenced initial work on evaluating the evidence for a further expansion of the age range eligibility for the BreastCheck program, in addition to examining the matter of breast density.
116. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Health how many nurses were employed in the health service in each of the past 15 years. [21945/24]
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.
117. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Health how many doctors were employed in the health service in each of the past 15 years. [21946/24]
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.
118. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Health how many dentists were employed in the health service in each of the past 15 years. [21947/24]
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.
119. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Health how many midwives were employed in the health service in each of the past 15 years. [21948/24]
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.
