Tuesday, 21 May 2024

Health Services

Questions (597)

James Lawless

Question:

597. Deputy James Lawless asked the Minister for Health to examine an issue (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22622/24]

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Written answers

Minister for Health

As this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.

Care of the Elderly

Questions (598)

Brendan Howlin

Question:

598. Deputy Brendan Howlin asked the Minister for Health if he has met recently with an organisation (details supplied); his view of the proposal to provide for care partners for vulnerable people in hospitals, hospices, care homes and other health settings; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22625/24]

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Written answers

Minister of State at the Department of Health (Deputy Mary Butler)

As Minister for Mental Health and Older People, I have met with the Care Champions group previously, and heard the concerns as set out at the meeting and in further correspondence received. I recognise how difficult it was for people living in nursing homes and their families throughout the pandemic.

I am fully committed to the continued improvement of older persons services, including long term residential care. To this end, there has been significant learnings from the experience and impact of COVID-19 on nursing homes and these learnings are informing a series of reforms which were recommended in the COVID-19 Nursing Homes Expert Panel report.

I understand that the Deputy is referring to a care partner scheme similar to that introduced in Northern Ireland in 2022 as a response to the pandemic. As the Deputy may be aware, the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) published guidance for visiting in long term residential care facilities during the pandemic, entitled “COVID-19: Normalising Access in Long Term Residential Care Facilities (LTRCFs)”, which came into effect on 8 February 2022. In order to support the mental health, wellbeing and social connection for residents, the guidance provided that each resident should have the opportunity to identify a nominated support person who would have regular and unrestricted access to the resident for most of the day and is considered a partner in care. This guidance was updated in December 2023 and the current version is available on the HPSC website, www.hpsc.ie/az/respiratory/coronavirus/novelcoronavirus/guidance/infectionpreventionandcontrolguidance/residentialcarefacilities/IPC%20and%20PH%20guidance%20for%20outbreaks.pdf

A focused piece of work is currently underway in the Department to ensure that residents rights to visiting are protected, even during outbreaks of infectious diseases. This includes consideration of the care partner scheme that operated in Northern Ireland. This work will build on enhancements to the Care and Welfare Regulations 2013, which came into effect on 1 March 2023, in relation to access to advocacy services and standardising complaints procedures in nursing homes.

The Patient Advocacy Service (PAS) is a national service commissioned and funded by the Department of Health. It provides a free and independent national service which helps people using healthcare services to make a formal complaint regarding the care they have received. In line with a Programme for Government commitment, the PAS was extended to private nursing homes from 1st November 2022 and amendments to legislation to support this rollout and to streamline complaints processes in nursing homes came into effect on 1 March 2023. It is hoped that the amendments will place a greater focus on the voice of the resident in order to address their concerns in an appropriate, timely manner.

Dental Services

Questions (599)

Matt Carthy

Question:

599. Deputy Matt Carthy asked the Minister for Health further to Parliamentary Question No. 17 of 8 May 2024, the actions he intends to take to ensure children have adequate access to orthodontic treatment in situations whereby their clinician retires; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22631/24]

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Written answers

Minister for Health

As this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to the Deputy directly.

Departmental Meetings

Questions (600)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin

Question:

600. Deputy Aodhán Ó Ríordáin asked the Minister for Health the number of times the newborn screening committee has met since 2019. [22641/24]

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Written answers

Minister for Health

The National Screening Advisory Committee (NSAC) was established in 2019 as an independent expert group that considers and assesses evidence in a robust and transparent manner, and against internationally accepted criteria. Its role is crucial in ensuring that Ireland has rigorous processes in place to ensure our screening programmes are effective, quality assured and operating to safe standards, and that the benefits of screening outweigh the harms.

The Committee meets between three and four times per year and has met a total of 16 times since its establishment.

Further details on Committee meetings, previous meeting minutes, can be found on the Committee’s website at: www.gov.ie/en/campaigns/nsac/

The next NSAC meeting is scheduled for Friday 28 June 2024.

Health Services

Questions (601)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin

Question:

601. Deputy Aodhán Ó Ríordáin asked the Minister for Health the number of new conditions the health service expects to add to the newborn screening service in the next five years. [22642/24]

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Written answers

Minister for Health

Currently, all newborn babies (between 3 and 5 days old) are offered newborn bloodspot screening (generally known as the ‘heel prick’) for rare but serious conditions that are treatable if detected early in life.

The expansion of the National Newborn Bloodspot Screening (NBS) Programme continues to remain a key objective of mine as Minister for Health, and I am pleased to note that the National Screening Advisory Committee (NSAC) has been actively progressing work in this regard.

NSAC is an independent expert group that considers and assesses evidence in a robust and transparent manner, and against internationally accepted criteria. It is important that we have rigorous processes in place to ensure our screening programmes are effective, quality assured, validated and operating to safe standards, and that the benefits of screening outweigh the harms.

Significant progress continues to be made on the expansion of the NBS Programme under this Government. As the Deputy will be aware, in November 2023, I endorsed the recommendation from NSAC on the addition and Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) to the NBS programme. This will bring the number of conditions screened for in Ireland to 11, once the implemented, representing a 37% increase over the lifetime of this Government.

In February of this year, I was pleased to allocate €1.4m of new development funding in 2024 to support the expansion of the NBS programme. This funding will allow for the rollout of testing for both SCID and SMA and represents a significant funding increase in a single year. The announcement further demonstrates my ongoing commitment to reducing the impact of these rare but serious diseases in children and infants. This investment will be crucial to providing additional funds for new equipment, staff recruitment, validation, quality assurance and training to facilitate addition of new conditions to NBS programme.

I can confirm that work commenced at the start of this year, with ongoing collaboration between officials in my Department and the HSE National Children’s Screening Programme on implementing an ambitious timeline for the introduction of screening for SMA and SCID.

In terms of further expansion of our newborn screening programmes, Ireland has always evaluated the case for commencing a national screening programme against international accepted criteria – collectively known as the Wilson Jungner criteria. The evidence bar for commencing a screening programme should and must remain high. This ensures that we can be confident that the programme is effective, quality assured and operating to safe standards. There is no doubt that newborn screening programmes have the potential to be rapidly transformed by new technologies and new therapies but this highlights the need to continue with a robust, methodologically sound and detailed analysis of the evidence in each and every case against internationally accepted screening criteria.

The expansion of newborn bloodspot screening is being continually reviewed across Europe where the number of conditions screened for varies significantly. For example, the UK currently screens for a similar number of conditions as Ireland. However, as noted by HIQA in their 2021 ‘Review of processes in use to inform the expansion of newborn bloodspot Screening programmes’, international comparisons of the range of conditions screened is likely to reflect complex decision-making processes and local inputs. These may include differing opinions with respect to assessment of conditions against criteria, differences in practice with respect to organisational structure and laboratory implementation, differing levels of tolerance for false positives and false negatives and differing local epidemiology with respect to condition prevalence and the genetic composition of the local population.

Nevertheless, I am acutely aware of how difficult it is for parents, families and children who have received a diagnosis of a rare disease, and how challenging daily life can be for them. This is why I remain committed to the further expansion of screening in Ireland in accordance with internationally accepted criteria and best practice.

Health Services

Questions (602)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin

Question:

602. Deputy Aodhán Ó Ríordáin asked the Minister for Health if there is a prioritised list of conditions and tests to be added to the newborn screening test programme to bring Ireland in line with best practice; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22643/24]