Brian Walsh (Galway West, Fine Gael)

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this motion and to offer my support to the Minister for his initiatives introduced in the short period of eight months since he came to office. The motion proposed by the Technical Group condemns the Minister by declaring that his plan has failed and is in chaos. The motion is high on rhetoric and it contains plenty of condemnations but offers no solutions. The motion is silent as regards any suggestions as to how the health services might be transformed or improved. This is a very poor reflection on the authors of the motion. Whether one is the Minister or a lowly backbencher like myself or a member of the Opposition, we are all here with a common purpose which is to serve the people who sent us here. This motion offers nothing by way of a solution for those people who feel vulnerable, who are suffering and those who are anxious about the future. The motion suggests the Minister's plan has failed. These comments are premature. They serve only to demonstrate a complete and utter lack of understanding or appreciation of the scale of the challenges the Minister faces.

It must be acknowledged, as we begin our reforms, that problems still exist in our health service. However, anyone who suggests these problems should or could be solved within an eight-month period is deluding him or herself. The scale of the challenges facing the Government in reforming the utterly dysfunctional health care system we inherited earlier this year cannot be underestimated. Sprawling waiting lists and overcrowded emergency departments have long characterised our ailing health service and the days are gone when we can or should attempt to bury these problems simply by firing money at them. That is not an option for us any more, but even if it were, it is a policy that has miserably failed us in the past.

Many of the inefficiencies that exist within the current system are a legacy of that policy, which was employed by previous Administrations. What is needed now is a departure from this failed policy of the past, radical reform of the way we manage our hospitals and an element of thinking outside the box I am pleased the Minister has demonstrated he has the capacity to do that on several occasions during the short period he has occupied his Ministry. Real and measurable progress is being made. The Minister has made a series of credible and commendable reforms as we move towards the Government's vision of a single-tier health care service through universal health care insurance.

The special delivery unit he has established is addressing waiting times in emergency departments, waiting lists in acute hospitals and the problem of inefficient bed management within our hospitals, particularly our acute hospitals. This is a model that has been proven to work elsewhere. The special delivery unit has already resulted in enhanced accountability and efficiency within the system and it is working with consultants and hospitals to improve the key markers of hospital performance. I welcome this initiative.

In my constituency of Galway West, the problems of the city's main hospital, University Hospital Galway, have been well documented. Consistently, it has been the worst performing hospital in the country in terms of the HIQA health statistics published regularly. I am glad the Minister is also addressing these issues and difficulties here. There is no reason University Hospital Galway should be the worst performing hospital in the country. We have exceptional staff, state of the art facilities and equipment there and have excellent clinicians and an excellent university close by. There is no reason we are in this position in Galway, but I believe it reflects the way the system is administered and managed. I welcome the move by the Minister to introduce a new layer of management on a temporary basis, which represents a departure from the remedies that have been tried and have failed in the past. This new initiative and the new management team the Minister will introduce there and in Limerick will beef up the existing management team and help identify and upskill existing and potential management.

These are just two of a number of positive and innovative initiatives that have been introduced by the Minister towards what will be the most profound reform of the health care system this country has ever seen. Change will not happen overnight, but will take time. I look forward to the introduction of universal health insurance and a funding model where money follows the patient and our public hospitals are paid in accordance with the number of procedures and services they provide. There is no doubt these are difficult times and there are sizeable challenges ahead, but I am confident that with this innovative and reforming Minister at the helm, for the first time in a generation our health service has been harnessed and is being steered back to the right path to reform. I support the Minister's amendment to the motion.

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