I thank the Deputy for her question. In line with the evolving public health policy advice, the HSE has put in place a comprehensive, reliable and responsive testing and tracing operation. Testing and contact tracing continues to be an important element of our response. Our current swabbing capacity is 175,000 tests per week. Demand for testing and tracing is high, as the Deputy will be aware, but every test centre around the country currently accepts walk-ins, which is being very well-received in communities aroun…

We have 930 staff in place. I do not know who is working or the exact hours involved but I can confirm the part in which we are interested, namely, whether contact tracing capacity is operating to its full potential 12 hours per day, seven days per week. The answer to that question is "Yes". We do quite in-depth contact tracing compared with many other countries. We do contact tracing with various protocols, with a full list of phone calls and following up on the close contacts. It is a level that many other countr…

The daily capacity has been significantly increased to 1,600 detected cases per day. The Deputy has raised a very important question, which is, what will happen after 1,600 cases per day are detected? Based on what we are seeing in Scotland and the modelling we have from Professor Philip Nolan's team, we will very likely be looking at more than 1,600 cases per day. There are various protocols to be put in place around using electronic means and shortening phone calls in order to further increase capacity. Probably …

I thank the Deputy for the question. It is fair to say that Covid-19 has had a devastating effect and caused huge difficulty for everyone in Ireland. That is especially true for people in nursing homes and their families, who have suffered huge hardship, as well as staff. The Department of Health is exploring ways to ensure their voices are heard. It must be recognised that the pandemic has not concluded and at this time the priority focus of the Government remains on the ongoing management of the Covid-19 response…

It sounds like the Deputy and I agree that everything that can be done to protect people in the nursing homes and right across the residential care sector must be done. The Deputy will be aware that an expert nursing home group was brought together. They did a huge amount of work and produced a comprehensive report. Critically, an implementation group was put together because the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, and I wanted to make sure that this was not just a report that sat on a shelf. An awful lot of work has…

We absolutely have to learn from what happened. Some things were done well but undoubtedly there will have been mistakes made. I assure the Deputy that a constant review has been ongoing for a long time. The Minister of State, Deputy Butler, and I have had numerous meetings with the Department, with the HSE and with HIQA to be able to go through it, nursing home by nursing home, around the country, identifying those nursing homes that are most at risk.

HIQA in the first instance. As for how it works, HIQA does a very thorough examination right across the sector and then identifies specific challenges that individual nursing homes may have. They engage with the HSE and the Department to make sure that the supports are put in place. While I hear clearly what the Deputy is asking, I wish to assure him, as well as those people in the nursing home sector and their families, that this is not something new. We have constantly been reviewing, revising and learning and pu…

The overall initial funding allocation for the Covid-19 vaccination programme and related expenditure approval is for a total of €200 million for 2021. Core responsibility for the operational delivery lies with the HSE, which provides detailed estimates of the gross cost of implementation to the Department of Health. While the cyberattack has had some impact on data reporting systems, the latest figures available from May indicate expenditure of approximately €121 million. It is envisaged that the overall costs ass…

On the Deputy's first question, the budget for this year was prepared on a no-vaccine basis. No provision was made for expenditure relating to the implementation of the vaccine programme. I subsequently approved an initial reallocation of €200 million. That was previously intended for the purchase of personal protective equipment. The HSE is reporting that as of May, €121 million of that €200 million has been incurred. Our estimates are that the final bill will be well in excess of €200 million. I will endeavour to…

In June 2018, the Government agreed to the establishment of the expert group to review the management of clinical negligence claims. It was chaired by the High Court judge, Mr. Justice Charles Meenan. The expert group examined the system from the perspective of the person who has made the claim to explore if there is a better way to deal effectively, yet more sensitively, with certain cases. Personally, I believe there is. Mr. Justice Meenan submitted the final report on the current system for managing clinical neg…

I thank the Deputy for his question. There are a number of projects in the capital programme for 2021 at Naas General Hospital. These include the day procedures-endoscopy unit, the oncology and physical therapy unit and a new acute mental health unit. Funding has been allocated to progress the project design for the day procedures-endoscopy unit and oncology and physical therapy unit projects. The procurement of the design team is nearing completion. The scope of the acute mental health unit has changed considerabl…

I will. These projects are important for people in the catchment area in the Deputy's constituency and we need to progress them as quickly as possible. I will offer a quick update on some of the background to the various projects. The day procedures-endoscopy unit and the oncology and physical therapy project were not prioritised to progress by the service area up until now and did not progress in 2020, given the impact of Covid, but I have outlined the progress. I might revert to the Deputy in my final response, a…

I thank the Deputy for his kind words. In February, he raised the important issue of the scope of the mental health project. Much of it was to be reviewed. The original development proposal comprised the provision of an eight-bed intensive care unit at the existing 30-bed Lakeview mental health unit on the grounds of Naas General Hospital. In 2019, a further revised proposal to deliver 50 bed spaces, a nine-bed intensive care area and significantly upgraded infrastructure was received. In 2021, the scope has again …

I acknowledge the Deputy's ongoing work in terms of advocacy and finding solutions for women's healthcare, including the national maternity strategy and many other issues. As she is aware, achieving a revolution in women's healthcare is a top priority for me and the rest of the Government. One of the cornerstones of advancing women's healthcare is the national maternity strategy. This year, I allocated unprecedented funding to the implementation of the strategy. To put it in context, we allocated five times more mo…

The short answer is "Yes". We need to put as much funding into and political and administrative focus on these services as possible. We must push on. That is why there is so much focus on getting the national maternity hospital, the home away from home suite strategy and the national maternity strategy moving as quickly as possible. With regard to the home away from home suites referenced by the Deputy, it is a similar environment to the birthing infrastructure of the midwife-led units, MLUs. There are nine sites, …

It is a great question. There is no doubt there is more opportunity to improve the services in the community and in primary care. One of the things I have recently funded is a women's health lead with the Irish College of General Practitioners, ICGP. That is the first time we will have a lead person whose job it will be do exactly that, with regard to figuring out whether more communication is needed with GPs, what other work, services and healthcare provision GPs can lead in the community and whether more training…

I thank Deputy Browne for his question. The provision of the medical cannabis access programme is as a result of recommendations by the Health Products Regulatory Authority, HPRA, in its review, Cannabis for Medical Use - A Scientific Review. The review stated that if the policy decision is to make cannabis available for medical purposes, the HPRA advised it should recognise patient need but be evidence based. It was advised that treatment with cannabis be only permitted under a controlled access programme for the …

I am, of course, aware of the case of Ms Twomey and Ava and many other families around the country. Can I just make a few points on Deputy Browne's reasonable question? I have funded the medicinal cannabis access programme, MCAP, for the first time. While the programme existed previously, there was never any money allocated to it. We have now allocated money to it. It will be fully funded. It will cost a significant amount of money. We will be able to make an announcement and I look forward to being able to share t…

To the first question, Ms Twomey and others were having to go to Holland to secure things. The first thing I wanted to make sure was that stopped. I have given a commitment directly to Ms Twomey and I am happy to repeat it here on the floor, that would not happen again. We have a system in place whereby the pharmaceuticals are being hand-delivered to the door. That is the first thing and it is important. As the Deputy said, these things are not cheap. Using the Deputy's figures, if it were €9,000, for example, ever…

This is an important question that relates to a very sensitive area. St. Louise's unit in Children's Health Ireland, CHI, at Crumlin is a specialist unit dealing with sexual assault trauma, offering therapeutic interventions to children and families. Timely access to the therapeutic services offered at St. Louise's unit is essential for families, and I note the extraordinary work of the staff in these services, providing a high standard of care to these vulnerable children, and by association their families, who ha…