The conversation has moved in a positive way in recent years. I recall when we had these sorts of discussions at the health committee four years ago and there was quite a lot of resistance. The idea that we would move from five to seven days was not being entertained. However, the engagement I have had right across the board has been very positive. The new consultant contract moves from 40 hours to 80 hours, which is a fundamental change. I meet other representative bodies and their members in community settings an…

The next question, in the name of Deputy Cullinane, relates to exactly that matter. We have two plans, which are the short-term plan and the multi-annual plan. The direction I have given to the Department and HSE is clear. We must have structural change such that, month by month, the trolley numbers we are seeing come down. What happened last year because of the impact of Covid - and I have spoken to health ministers from around Europe who have experienced the same things in their countries - was that demand went u…

I agree that the current situation in too many hospitals, although not all, is unacceptable. I think we all agree that it is especially the case in respect of older people who are waiting too long. As the Deputy quite rightly said, those figures are averages and do not include the people who are waiting on trolleys for 24 hours, 48 hours or longer. It is not an acceptable situation. The HSE is now, at my request, finalising two planned approaches to urgent and emergency care. The first is a plan for the rest of thi…

That is a frustration. We have seen an unprecedented expansion in capacity. There are nearly 21,000 extra people and 1,000 extra beds, with another 500 on the way. We are progressing new hospitals. There are new operating theatres and outpatient departments. We have built an entirely new community care service in the past two years. What we are seeing here is reflected in what other countries around Europe, and further afield, are seeing. We have an aging and growing population, as the Deputy is aware. There is ext…

I agree with all of that. The hospitals need to take a zero-tolerance approach to patients on trolleys. We have seen it. For example, Tullamore hospital is a very good case study where a new management team came in, they were on the ground in the emergency department and challenging why this patient and that patient were on trolleys and following that up right through the hospital. They determined, for instance, that a patient was on a trolley because other patients had not been discharged and asked why had those p…

We have jumped forward significantly in the questions. I thank the Deputy for his question and recognise his ongoing advocacy on this topic, in particular to ensure that as many people as possible have access to medical cards and, or, GP cards. Medical card provision is primarily based on financial assessment by the HSE, with each applicant assessed on qualifying financial thresholds in accordance with the Health Act 1970. The issue of granting a medical or a GP visit card based on having a particular disease or il…

I thank the Deputy. We have to keep these things under constant review, particularly as part of the Estimates process. I can confirm that there has been an increase in the number of medical cards since the 2019 figures. Therefore, the numbers are going up rather than being suppressed because of inflation, for example. There has been a 1.4% increase in medical cards and a 6.6% increase in GP cards compared with 2019. As the Deputy will be aware, we are hopefully in the final few weeks of negotiation with the Irish M…

I thank both Deputies. We have to keep an open mind to patient cost generally. One of the priorities for the Government has been reducing healthcare costs for patients. We increased the medical card thresholds for the over-70s; we are looking at about half a million more GP cards; we have introduced free contraception and will go further in September when we will introduce State-funded IVF. We have abolished inpatient hospital charges for now for children and for adults; and we have reduced the drug payment scheme …

I fully agree and acknowledge this is something the Deputy has been advocating for and pushing on repeatedly. We greatly value the work that pharmacists and pharmacies do in terms of their place within the health and social care service. I fully agree that the practice of pharmacy and the provision of pharmaceutical care has the potential to be substantially enhanced to deliver more care and it can really help in terms of the pressure on patients, GPs, and on primary care. My ambition, and that of the Government, i…

I thank the Deputy. I suggest that is exactly what we are doing. We have met the IPU and spoken to pharmacists around the country. I tasked the Department with putting together a package of enhanced practice for pharmacists. That includes minor ailments, flu, access to contraception, medicine shortage protocols to enable pharmacists to substitute medications, and so forth. We have a group that is looking at medicines one by one to say which of them would be appropriate for a pharmacist to be able to provide. We are…

No. We are progressing things this year but I cannot yet tell the Deputy when these things will happen, to the month. I am determined we move quickly on this. There is a lot of advantage to be had here, especially with GPs under so much pressure. I cannot give the Deputy an exact timeline because there are clinical governance issues that need to be worked through. There are training modules that have to be gone through as well. I am eager to have it in place as quickly as possible and some of it in place this year,…

I thank the Deputy and acknowledge his ongoing work on behalf of patients and families with a rare disease diagnosis. We are fully committed to doing everything possible to assist people living with a rare disease and to support their families as well. Good progress was made under the national rare disease plan, including the establishment of a national clinical programme for rare diseases and, critically, a national rare disease office. While there is currently no HSE patient liaison team official with a special f…

Starting, if I may, with the patient liaison, the Deputy and I had a really positive and useful meeting with patients and families who are dealing with rare diseases. The point they were making was that there is all manner of frustrations, blockages and complications in the system and they would really benefit from having someone within the HSE who engages with them and can take on board what may be fairly minor improvements that would make a big difference to the children, adults and families involved. In the firs…

I welcome our esteemed guests from Mayo too. They are all very welcome. It is better than being in school, doing schoolwork and homework, is it not? It is way better. I thank the Acting Chairperson and Senators for the opportunity to discuss with the Seanad today the very substantial capital investment in our health and social care services. This Government is absolutely committed to transforming how we deliver care to patients in our country. Our aim is universal healthcare so that everyone can access affordable, …

I will have to come back to Deputy Durkan on that. With regard to Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan's question, the short answer is "Yes". We can do more and we can move faster. I believe we are now moving faster. The article in The Lancet referenced by the Deputy quite rightly looked at Ireland's slower response historically. A lot of money has been put in place in the last three years. As the Deputy will be aware, 127 new drugs or new uses have been approved and 50 of them are cancer drugs. There is a lot going on. Can w…

Yes, I can. I acknowledge the dedication, professionalism and commitment of our medical scientists all across the country. As the Deputy says, we are a year on now since the MLSA engaged in two days of industrial action on 18 and 24 May of last year. That was for their claim for pay parity between medical scientists and clinical biochemists. I am very happy to report that important open engagement has continued between health management and the MLSA since this time without industrial action being initiated again. I…

I thank the Deputy. I agree. The assessment and the report concluded that critically there were no material differences in qualifications, duties and responsibilities between medical scientist grades across laboratory specialists and biochemist grades. Small differences were highlighted particularly in regard to the educational requirements. The assessor gave recommendations for addressing these. The parties met again in February and in March to discuss the recommendations. Following the March meeting, the MLSA ref…

Progress is being made. The representative body has been engaging through last year. As I said, they met in February and in March. They are back into the WRC. The pay anomaly has been addressed in regard to the laboratory aids. Good progress is being made to that effect. The workforce has gone up since before the pandemic. It increased by about 7% since pre-pandemic levels which is very positive. I fully agree that we need more medical scientists working in our labs and in our hospitals. My view is we need to doubl…

I thank colleagues for their contributions. I have been trying to piece together responses to the various projects that have been raised. I acknowledge the Seanad's position on the naming of the children’s hospital. The advice I have is different. That is an ongoing consideration for Government. On women’s health centres, the answer is "Yes", but not in the way laid out in the report. The report suggests that we put in those centres based on individual GP decisions to provide services, which is not how one would pr…

I thank Deputy Pringle. I checked in when I saw your question. The advice I have from the Department is that there was an acknowledgement and a response to the correspondence. That is the advice I have from the Department. If that is not correct we need to chase that up because certainly the view is that correspondence has issued. We need to make sure that has been received. If it has not, I will revert to the Department on that. Apologies if it has not. The Deputy should have had a response. I am told the response…