1047. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether he has issued, or intends to issue, any direction to the Health Service Executive to begin recording and publishing maximum trolley wait times by hospital for emergency department patients; if not, the reason for this decision; and whether he will commit to implementing such reporting as part of national urgent and emergency care oversight. [9480/26]
Parliamentary questions
Questions
TDs ask ministers questions to get answers on the record, most of them in writing. Here is every one asked in the 34th Dáil, by the department it went to and the subject heading it was filed under. How questions work
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Showing questions asked by Ken O'Flynn .
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1048. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether he accepts that the failure to identify and monitor the longest emergency department trolley waits limits the ability of the Health Service Executive and the Department of Health to detect extreme delays that may present patient safety risks; and the alternative safeguards are relied upon in the absence of maximum trolley wait-time data. [9481/26]
1049. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether his Department has examined emergency department wait-time reporting standards in comparable health systems; whether the non-recording of maximum trolley wait durations aligns with international best practice; and if not, what steps are planned to address this gap. [9482/26]
1050. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether her Department has formally approved any national governance or clinical policy framework for gender identity services for children and young people provided by the Health Service Executive; if so, the date of that approval; and if not, the reason no Department-approved framework is currently in place for services involving minors. [9483/26]
1051. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health the date of the most recent Department-led review, audit, or evaluation of governance and safeguarding arrangements for gender identity services for children and young people; whether that review was internal or external; and whether its findings were provided to her Department for policy or regulatory action. [9484/26]
1052. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether her Department has issued mandatory national safeguarding, clinical governance, or diagnostic standards for gender identity services for children and young people; whether compliance with such standards is a condition of service provision; and how compliance is monitored or enforced at national level by her Department. [9485/26]
1053. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether her Department is aware that structured national datasets for gender identity services for minors, including referral volumes, diagnostic profiles, treatment pathways, and outcomes, are not currently in place; and whether she considers the absence of such datasets compatible with evidence-based healthcare planning and safeguarding obligations. [9486/26]
1054. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether she has issued, or intends to issue, a ministerial policy direction requiring the establishment of national datasets for gender identity services for children and young people; and if so, the proposed scope, governance arrangements, and timeline for implementation. [9487/26]
1055. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether she accepts that responsibility for national policy, safeguarding standards, and governance frameworks for services involving children rests with her Department rather than with clinical programmes established by the Health Service Executive; and how that responsibility is exercised in the context of gender identity services for minors. [9488/26]
1056. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether her Department has assessed the evidence base underpinning current or proposed models of care for gender identity services for children and young people; whether international reviews or guidance were considered in that assessment; and whether any such assessment has been formally documented. [9489/26]
1057. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether her Department receives routine reports from the Health Service Executive on governance, safeguarding, activity levels, and outcomes relating to gender identity services for minors; and if not, the steps she intends to take to ensure appropriate ministerial oversight of services involving children. [9490/26]
1058. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health the mean and median waiting time, by hospital group, for a first outpatient assessment in publicly funded chronic pain services at end-December 2025; and the number of persons on those waiting lists in each hospital group. [9503/26]
1059. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health the number of persons waiting longer than six months and longer than twelve months, by hospital group, for a first outpatient assessment in publicly funded chronic pain services at end-December 2025. [9504/26]
1060. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health the longest waiting time recorded nationally at end-December 2025 for a first outpatient assessment in publicly funded chronic pain services; and the hospital group and hospital in which that longest waiting time occurred. [9505/26]
1061. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether the HSE or the National Treatment Purchase Fund hold waiting-list data for publicly funded chronic pain services in time bands, including persons waiting longer than six months and longer than twelve months, for first outpatient assessment lists; and if not, the reason such time-band data is not produced where mean and median waiting-time data is produced…
1062. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health the number of consultant-led publicly funded chronic pain clinics in each hospital group; the approved whole-time equivalent staffing complement for each clinic at end-December 2025; and the number of unfilled posts at that date. [9507/26]
1119. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether her Department has any centrally approved governance, compliance, or safeguarding framework applicable to non-statutory bodies that receive direct funding from her Department, excluding bodies funded through or overseen by the HSE; and if not, to state when the absence of such a framework was last examined by her Department and the reason no framework is …
1120. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health the minimum governance, reporting, and compliance standards are required by her Department to be applied by departmental line units when overseeing non-statutory bodies funded directly by her Department, excluding HSE-funded bodies; whether those standards are set out in written Departmental policy or guidance; and how her Department assures consistency of oversi…
1121. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health what risk assessment, safeguarding assurance, and service-quality oversight mechanisms are operated directly by her Department in respect of non-statutory bodies receiving direct Departmental funding, separate from financial audit, expenditure controls, or post-hoc review by the Comptroller and Auditor General. [10008/26]
1122. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether her Department has carried out any internal review, audit, or evaluation since 2020 of the adequacy of its governance and oversight arrangements for non-statutory bodies funded directly by her Department; and if so, to provide the date of each review, the scope of the review, and the principal findings. [10009/26]
374. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health when the decision was taken that emergency ambulance response times exceeding 60 minutes would not be routinely recorded, collated, or reported as part of the State’s ambulance performance framework; the person that authorised this decision; and whether she is satisfied that the absence of such data is compatible with effective patient safety oversight. [8860/26]
375. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether she accepts that the current National Ambulance Service KPI framework does not measure or report life threatening emergency response delays exceeding 60 minutes; and if so, whether she will direct that this data be formally collected, audited, and published on a routine basis. [8861/26]
376. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether any Department of Health policy, guidance, or risk management framework addresses patient harm arising from prolonged ambulance response times beyond existing KPI thresholds; and if not, whether she intends to commission such a framework. [8862/26]
377. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether her Department has undertaken, commissioned, or received any clinical risk assessment, patient safety review, or adverse incident analysis relating to emergency ambulance response times exceeding 60 minutes during the period 2023 to date; and if not, the reasons for same. [8863/26]
378. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether she accepts that failure to measure extreme emergency response delays limits the State’s ability to identify, assess, and mitigate patient safety risks; and whether she will instruct the Health Service Executive to amend its performance governance arrangements accordingly. [8864/26]