The short answer is "Yes". Clinicians are cautious about that option. It happened before. Children went to Germany before the Covid-19 pandemic. Clinicians are not opposed to that but they urge caution because these surgeries tend not to be a single episode in a theatre. Ongoing care is required and multiple surgeries can be required. Nonetheless, we are looking at what is called outsourcing. A good relationship is being built between the Boston Children's Hospital and CHI. What they call insourcing is also being l…

I thank the Deputy and acknowledge his own work. He is part of the seven-person team in the University College Dublin, UCD, trauma project, the initiative led by UCD professors Gerard Bury and Chris Fitzpatrick. Professor Fitzpatrick and I have been going back and forth on this project for some time. I know that the Deputy was involved in training for 100 personnel and that the visit focused on procedures to counteract haemorrhaging and deal with combat wounds, so I acknowledge his own role, which is greatly apprec…

I thank the Deputy. I had the easy job; he had to go to Ukraine and work on the ground, so I thank him. As I said to Professor Fitzpatrick, if the UCD team is looking to go out again and needs that support, the State and the Department of Health will certainly not be found wanting. We have an allocation this year, and a similar one next year, of €50 million to provide services. It is a combination of providing services to Ukrainians coming here, mainly women and children fleeing the atrocities of the war, and we wi…

That is very clear; they will have my full support to keep going with this. As for some of the other supports that have been provided so far, 23 decommissioned ambulances are fully kitted out, loaded with additional medical supplies and ready to use. There are more than 7,000 blood bags and reagents from the Irish Blood Transfusion Service and nearly 6,000 items of medical equipment and consumables, including critical care equipment, diagnostics, therapeutics and infant care equipment, which was fantastic to see ou…

Covid-19, influenza and pneumonia vaccines are currently available to certain groups of adults most vulnerable to a severe outcome from these diseases. This is available as part of the adult immunisation programme. The immunisation programme is based on the advice of the national immunisation advisory committee, NIAC. NIAC considers the prevalence of the relevant disease, as well as international best practice for immunisation when developing its advice. NIAC continues to revise recommendations to allow for the int…

I fully agree. The shining example in Ireland is the late Laura Brennan and her advocacy on the human papillomavirus, HPV, vaccine. We know Ireland was doing well on the HPV vaccine and then, as the Deputy referenced, a lot of misinformation came into Ireland from abroad through social media. That scared young women and we saw the level of vaccine drop very considerably. Laura Brennan's advocacy was quite extraordinary. We saw the level of uptake of the HPV vaccine go right back up again and we now have a very high…

I thank the Deputy. We must always be open to being able to do more. I agree with the Deputy. The misinformation and disinformation, largely coming from abroad and through social media, can be very damaging and highly persuasive. I imagine, with the advent of AI-enabled communications we might see more and more of it. While the HSE and Department of Health do a lot, we must always be open to doing more not just in terms of traditional information from the CMO, doctors and scientists, but how we counter at quite a s…

I thank the Deputy for the important question. As he will be aware, this year is the first time funding has been provided to support the implementation of the national stroke strategy. We launched it last year and last year's budget provided nearly €5 million for this year to roll out the new stroke strategy. The Deputy and various of our party colleagues have been advocating for neurorehabilitation nurses, including in the Deputy's constituency, for a long time. This year, we have seen the roll-out of a modest eno…

Second.

I thank the Deputy. A few important things are happening. In terms of prevention, we have a successful chronic disease management programme with GPs across the country. We have added hypertension to that, which will make a big difference in terms of community support. GPs have mental and physical health capabilities; they are not specified mental health professionals but we know they provide an awful lot of support and psychological support to their patients. As the Deputy will be aware, the Minister of State, Depu…

I thank Deputy McAuliffe for the question. I acknowledge his ongoing advocacy for Cappagh hospital, which is our national orthopaedic hospital. I have had the opportunity to visit Cappagh on several occasions and I am very strongly supportive of the hospital staff and the work they do. They needed more money. There has been a significant increase in investment but I would like to talk as well about the further investment that is needed. Since 2019, funding for Cappagh has increased by nearly €50 million. That is ab…

I have some good news for Deputy McAuliffe this morning. I am delighted to be able to tell him that just two weeks ago the HSE board approved this project. That was one really important milestone. The strategic assessment report or preliminary business case is done. It has been approved by the HSE board and has now been sent to my Department for a review. There is an external review that has to be done. I have no doubt but that this project will be supported. It is a very significant capital investment. It has my f…

We are in full agreement. One of the priority areas for our waiting list action plan is orthopaedics. We know that when people are waiting for operations, be it a hip operation, a knee operation or whatever it might be, they can be waiting in agony and they can be waiting for a long time. When we were in opposition, I was out in Cappagh and I got a very sobering account from the clinicians as to what their patients were going through. It is one of the reasons we have put such an emphasis on the waiting lists. Deput…

I propose to take Questions Nos. 10 and 15 together. My note says that I am taking this question together with No. 15 tabled by Deputy Niamh Smyth. I thank Deputy Carthy for the question on Monaghan Hospital. As Minister for Health, I am fully committed to the development of the regional hospitals, including Monaghan. As the Deputy will be aware, there has been a welcome and significant increase in investment in recent years into Monaghan Hospital. In fact, between 2020 and 2023 the funding investment into Monaghan…

I have it that it is with No. 15

We can do that one separately.

I thank Deputy Carthy for acknowledging that there has been important investment. I know he is asking about the future and I respect that, but when there has been such an increase in funding to Monaghan Hospital, it is important too that we acknowledge it and that we acknowledge the work the healthcare workers have done with that funding on behalf of the local communities. In terms of the exact funding that will go to Monaghan Hospital next year, that is being worked out now through the process of the letter of det…

That level of operational detail is being worked through by the HSE at the moment on a hospital-by-hospital basis. We will have a full account of that when we have the national service plan. What I can say is that I will open two new primary centres tomorrow, in Monaghan town and Clones. This entails an investment of nearly €30 million. These are state-of-the-art facilities. Critically, as we move next year to a regional basis, the people in County Monaghan will see more community care services joining up, includin…

I thank the Deputy. I am aware that he is asking this question on behalf of Deputy Troy. I might use this opportunity to congratulate Deputy Troy and his wife on the birth of their baby last night. It is a joyous occasion indeed. With regard to the beds, it is well recognised that there is a need to improve patient flow and ensure sufficient capacity for both scheduled and unscheduled care. Earlier this year, I asked the HSE to put a plan in place to accelerate the construction and delivery of an additional 1,500 h…

I thank both Deputies. Deputy McAuliffe should note that we had 18 responses from Ireland and abroad to the expression of interest in 2023, all with a view to rapid build. All concerned bring different versions of the technology. In parallel, we have also commenced the detailed design work. The HSE has recently published a standardised questionnaire with a view to procuring the design services to do this. I am engaging with ministerial colleagues on future funding. On Deputy Wynne’s question, to the very best of my…