James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chairman and committee members for their time. We will be back in another 48 hours and can answer any questions left unanswered then. Hopefully, we will address Senator van Turnhout's concerns further then.

Patient safety is the first and foremost concern in regard to all of this. For a long time, I have talked about focusing on better outcomes for patients and on seeing more patients more quickly. I would like to echo what the director general of the HSE has said. In the past, we have heard the same refrain day in and day out. I would have been part of that then. We had too much talk and focus on how many doctors and nurses there were and on how much money and how many billion euro were being spent. While more money would be welcome, if money alone was the solution, we would not be where we are now. The question I must ask therefore is why, after more than quadrupling health expenditure by 2008 from the early 1990s, we faced such a crisis in 2009 in emergency departments that the then Minister, Mary Harney, wanted to have the situation treated as a national emergency.

Money is not the key issue here, although it is important. Reform is the key issue, reform of how we work, how we deliver services, how we interrelate and who does which job. Too many silos have grown up and there are too many people who do not want to let go of what they are doing, despite the fact they complain they are overwhelmed with work. There is also a lack of transparency. The waiting list initiative, in terms of outpatients, is a classic and critical issue in terms of transparency and letting people see what we have and the situation with which we must deal.

I want to go further and will go further this year in regard to transparency. The waiting times for each department and consultant will be made available, initially internally but ultimately publicly. Morbidity and mortality rates will also be made available. Patients have a right to know what kind of doctor they are attending and GPs have a right to know the kind of doctor to whom they are referring patients. The empowered patient is a safe patient. Why would a patient not have the right to know that a visit to doctor X will mean a six-month waiting list, but a visit to doctor Y would only involve a two-month wait, particularly when both are equally qualified consultants? Let patients make that choice.

This year, we will continue to bring in legislation that will continue necessary reforms. We want to roll out the continuation of the "money follows the patient" model, to create purchase or provider lists, have functioning hospital groups and new integrated service areas, set up a new contract for GPs for children under six and present a White Paper on universal health insurance to allow a broad consultation with all interest groups to determine its precise shape. No doubt, this committee will have a huge input into that.

I will finish by thanking everybody who works in our health service, who have kept the service running and delivering care 24 hours a day, seven days a week and 52 weeks a year with fewer staff and money and in the face of increasing demand, as evidenced by an 8% growth in the population since 2006 and 20,000 more people over the age of 65 every year, which while great to see creates extra demand. While the staff of the health service have been doing all of this, they have continued to reform the system to provide better outcomes for more patients. I look forward to working with them and with this committee to continue these reforms over the next 12 months and to improve health services, which is our duty.