Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this motion. The HSE service plan introduced this year represents is a five-year plan. Unlike previous Ministers, the current Minister, Deputy Reilly, along with the Ministers of State, Deputies Kathleen Lynch and Shortall, have the vision and, more importantly, the commitment required to deliver a modern and effective health system.

The Minister has stated that his overriding commitment is to introduce a single-tier service that will deliver equal access to care based on need, not income. Within months, legislation will be introduced for a new risk equalisation scheme.

We must work within challenging budget constraints. However, there is a Government and health Ministers who see that cost-saving measures will be effective in areas like procurement, drug price reductions and cutting fees in GPs and pharmacists. This reconfiguration and reform will bring with it greater productivity and focus on staffing levels and skill mix.

The 2012 plan will deliver the key elements of the programme for Government in the areas of mental health where approximately 400 extra staff for mental health services will be recruited to enhance the child, adolescent and adult community teams as well as suicide prevention and counselling services. Within the primary care section, the moratorium has had a significant effect on staffing levels, and additional funding of €20 million is being allocated to fill these vacancies to strengthen the primary aid services. GP visit cards will be issued to long-term illness claimants.

The 2012 plan ensures that acute hospitals will continue to deliver to patients the best possible service on each hospital site. The special delivery unit, under the leadership of Dr. Martin Connor, will ensure that 95% of attendees at emergency departments are discharged or admitted within six hours of registration. This delivery of reform in acute services will modernise and achieve the best service to the patient, who is, by the way, the primary stakeholder in all of this. These reforms will result in the patient, who is the most important stakeholder, getting the best effective care as soon as possible. In the area of disability, people with physical, mental and sensory disabilities have the same rights as everyone else. This action plan demonstrates that, even at times of cutbacks, the Government wants to remove obstacles so that disabled people can participate in society. The accelerated move towards a new model of individualised person-centred services in communities can help to achieve efficiencies, particularly in regard to services for those with mild or moderate intellectual disabilities. A €1 million fund is available for autism services to address waiting times for specialised therapies and early intervention teams.

The planning for the health requirements of our people is always a priority. I want to broaden the discussion. Obesity in our society is now a political issue, along with factors such as the environment, smoking, alcohol and drug consumption and physical inactivity. Bad health translates into higher health care costs. Healthy children develop into healthy adults. We have to inform and reform our way of life.

The health costs of alcohol-related injuries, deaths from alcohol-related road incidences, liver cirrhosis and suicides, as well as negative effects on the workplace are all hugely significant. The Minister of State, Deputy Shortall, has taken action with the launch of the report on national substance misuse from the steering strategy group. Harmful consumption of alcohol is the third main cause of early death and illness after tobacco and high blood pressure.

Smoking is the single largest cause of avoidable deaths between the ages of 35 and 69. Some 18% of all deaths in the EU can be attributed to smoking, with lung cancer now overtaking breast cancer as the major killer of women in this country. Following on from this, we must stop young people from taking up the habit and we must fight the illicit tobacco trade.

The Opposition must understand we all have a responsibility to act. The Government, unlike the Opposition, recognises that we have to control and reduce water-related diseases. By creating healthy lifestyles, we can reduce the costs of the health care bill and promote a healthy society. These are a selection of observations taken from the total plan. I look forward to further debate on the health care system and to seeing the results which will benefit the most important stakeholder - the patient.

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