Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 14 January 2014

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children

Health Service Plan 2014: Minister for Health and HSE

7:30 pm

Mr. Tony O'Brien:

There was a final question from Senator John Crown on the use of consultants. We use consultants fairly judiciously, given the scope of activity with which the health service is charged, which is much broader than sometimes is understood by the term "health service". It includes, for example, significant mass communications campaigns in the health and well-being space such as the one that is running. I should pay tribute to Mr. Gerry Collins who has cancer and volunteered to assist us in that campaign. We use professional communications expertise to help us to put together the most effective public communications programmes. Similarly, we use PA Consulting Group in putting together the financial reform programmes. We are judicious in their use, but we need to have recourse to them at times when it is appropriate to do so.

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