Michael Harty (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I have four questions for the Minister. I do not think money alone will improve patient care, particularly in psychiatry but also in the health service in general. When will reform of the HSE and the Department of Health to streamline delivery of care start? There has been no reform since this Government took power. More money in an inefficient system will not deliver better care.

The Minister of State has proposed that we engage in telepsychiatry to address our recruitment and retention issues because we have difficulty recruiting all grades of staff. When, where and how will that happen?

Does the Minister recognise the false economy of rationing health spending by limiting access for patients? Rather than try to reform the entire service, particularly the mental health services, I propose that the Minister adequately fund a certain area and pilot schemes so that he could see the return he would get for fully recruited and manned community psychiatry teams. CHO 3 in the mid-west would be an ideal area to pilot this because it is the only area in the country where the hospital group and the CHO area coincide. We need pilot schemes to prove that this works.

Does he think he will be remembered as a reforming Minister for Health when his tenure finishes because he has so many plans and has been given so many expert opinions but there has been no implementation of health reform?