Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

My opening statement is not very long. I am glad that the Chairman explained that the Minister hopes to be here later when I am sure he will be anxious to address the joint committee.

I thank the committee for the invitation to attend. I am joined by officials from the Department, including Mr. Jim Breslin, Secretary General; Ms Treacy Conroy, assistant secretary - acute hospitals; Ms Grainne Duffy, disability services division; and Mr. Barry Murphy, services for older people division. I am also joined by Mr. Tony O'Brien, director general of the HSE, and his colleagues.

Members have been informed that the Minister has experienced a flight delay on his return home from a meeting at the European Parliament. He will try to join us as soon as possible and will speak about some wider issues. I will cover those within my brief.

The budget for the health service in 2015 shows a modest increase – the first such increase in a number of years. As acknowledged by the Minister and the director general of the HSE, it will not allow us to address every priority in the current year, but it will allow us to make a start. As we see the fruits of the rebuilding of the economy emerge, I look forward to further sustainable increases in the health budget in the years to come which, together with reform, will allow us to address the deficiencies in key services.

The Minister and I have published our priorities for 2015 which set out an ambitious but achievable set of goals. They include introducing universal GP care for children under six years and older people over 70. Detailed discussions are proceeding with the Irish Medical Organisation with a view to rolling out these initiatives in the second quarter of the year. It will be a matter for individual GPs to agree to provide these services. I cannot presume agreement, but I hope the main body of general practitioners will see this as an important opportunity to secure more investment in primary care services and introduce a more preventive focus, in particular in children's earliest years.

The budget provides an additional €10 million for the fair deal scheme. These resources have already allowed waiting times for funding under the scheme to be reduced from 15 weeks in October to 11 now. This is an important initiative for those awaiting a placement from the community, but it has also contributed to a reduction in delayed discharges from hospitals, with numbers down by more than 100 since December.

Demographic factors mean that there is significant ongoing pressure on the fair deal scheme. A review of the scheme is being finalised and I will bring the findings to the Cabinet. As well as improvements to the operation of the scheme, it is likely to highlight the ongoing funding requirements to further reduce waiting periods and the need to simultaneously invest in community supports to avoid older people having to be placed in residential care, where at all possible.

Other priorities for 2015 include reducing the cost of medicines to patients and the taxpayer, building on price reductions and a successful introduction of reference pricing. I will also publish a review of the Mental Health Act which will contain recommendations on how this ground-breaking legislation can be further improved to support the rights of those suffering from mental illness. Before the end of the year, subject to planning permission, we will commence work on the new national forensic mental health service campus at Portrane. The Central Mental Hospital in Dundrum has a very professional body of staff, but its facilities are from another era. Their replacement has been long promised and we will embark on making this a reality with the new development.

On disability services, the national service plan provides for a planned approach to school leavers and emergency placements. We will further implement the registration of facilities with HIQA and the comprehensive change programme to modernise services and ensure standards of care are consistently of high quality.

The director general will now make his opening remarks to the committee.