Health Committee to focus on Sickle Cell Disease and Chronic Pain Management

The schedule for the meeting is:

Session A: 9.30 am

Sickle Cell Disease – Sickle Cell and Thalassaemia Ireland; Dr Corrina McMahon; and Dr Eibhlin Conneally, Consultant Haematologist, St James’s Hospital;

and

Session B: 11.45 am

Chronic Pain Management – Chronic Pain Ireland; Irish Pain Society; Irish Pain Nurses; and Midwives Society; Dr Joseph Keaveny, Dean, Faculty of Pain Medicine, CAI College of Anaesthetists of Ireland; and Dr  Brian McGuire, Senior Lecturer in Clinical Psychology; Director, Clinical Psychology Training Programme; Co-Director, Centre for Pain Research National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland.

Committee Chairman, Jerry Buttimer TD said: “Sickle cell disease is an inherited disease of the red blood cells (erythocyctes) that affects the oxygen in the red blood cells (heamoglobin). Signs and symptoms of sickle cell disease usually begin in early childhood and are characterised by repeated infections and periodic episodes of pain. Tomorrow, committee members will be briefed on the work being done to raise awareness and promote a better understanding of Sickle Cell Disease, as well getting an update on the treatment of the disease and research for a cure.

“In the second part of the meeting we will discuss the issue of chronic pain. Thousands of people in Ireland suffer from chronic pain. It is a major healthcare problem which can have a very negative impact on the lives of sufferers.  Our meeting will allow us to get a better understanding of the problem, how it is impacting people, the causes and what treatments are available and how healthcare policy can help address the problem.”

The meeting will start at 9.30am in Committee Room 2, Leinster House tomorrow, Thursday, 10th April  2014.

Committee proceedings can be followed live here.

Proceedings will also be carried on UPC channel 207. Committee proceedings can also be viewed on the move, through the Houses of the Oireachtas Smartphone App, available for Apple and Android devices.

Media Enquiries to:

Ciaran Brennan,
Houses of the Oireachtas,
Communications Unit,
Leinster House,
Dublin 2

Committee Membership:

Deputies: Jerry Buttimer (Chair), Catherine Byrne, Ciara Conway (Vice-Chair), Regina Doherty, Robert Dowds, Peter M Fitzpatrick, Seamus Healy, Billy Kelleher, Eamonn Maloney, Mattie McGrath, Sandra McLellan, Dan Neville, Mary Mitchell O’Connor, Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin and Robert Troy

Senators: Colm Burke, John Crown, John Gilroy, Imelda Henry, Marc Mac Sharry and Jillian Van Turnhout