Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The question as to whether the office should reside in the Department of Health or the Department of the Taoiseach was discussed at this committee, and I made my views very clear on that at the time. The Minister for Health is accountable to the Oireachtas for the delivery of the health service under Sláintecare, subject to the health Acts and the powers and functions of the HSE. The Minister for Health is also accountable democratically in terms of answering parliamentary questions, Topical Issue debates, Private Member's motions and legislation. To hive off responsibility for reform of the health service from the Minister for Health of the day would have been a very peculiar construct, in my view, and the view of the Government, taking into account the Ministers and Secretaries Act 1924. We made sure there was a structure in place to try to achieve the same objective. I flagged that with the Sláintecare committee in advance of publication and at this committee post publication. People can agree or disagree that we have achieved that, but it is what we endeavoured to do. Ensuring that there is a high-level delivery board involving the three secretaries general of the crucial Departments - the Department of the Taoiseach, representing the Taoiseach of the day, the Department of Health, representing me, and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform in terms of resourcing - is the way to go. The Taoiseach will chair the Cabinet committee on health, and the Sláintecare office, including Ms Magahy and me, will account to the Taoiseach.

The question about beds is very valid. I can assure the Chair that I ask that question several times a week. I asked the HSE to produce a document detailing the number of beds it could deliver over the next three years using a combination of modular build, existing space in hospitals and a degree of internal reconfiguration to make more space or to use space more efficiently within hospitals, and it has responded, stating that it could deliver around 600 hospital beds. I can send the Chair a detailed note, because I do not have the exact details to hand, but the answer to the question asked is that over the next three years approximately 600 of the 2,600 beds can be delivered. A big chunk of those beds will be delivered towards the latter half of 2019. The Chair is familiar with Limerick, geographically and medically. Delivery of modular builds would create 60 beds for University Hospital Limerick. I am very committed to doing that, and I have discussed it with the CEO of the hospital group. That is an example of the delivery of the first tranche of 600 beds.

It was decided, when we published the implementation plan, not to make any decisions that are matters for the budget outside of the normal budgetary cycle. However, we will require an integration fund for the delivery of Sláintecare. There is a lot of funding in the Department of Health already, and any extra funding through the budget will be Sláintecare-proofed. Almost €11 billion has been allocated in the capital plan. My analysis of the plan suggests that €6.6 billion of that is for Sláintecare, whether through elective-only, diagnostics in the community, bed capacity in the community hospitals or eHealth. Above and beyond that, I have to empower Ms Magahy and her team to deal with the large-scale roll-out of projects to take services from the acute hospitals into the community. The Sláintecare advisory council will assist in that. The Sligo eye care model is one that people often talk about. It has been piloted for so long that everyone accepts that it works. At what point can we roll it out? In Deputy Kelly's constituency there is the Nenagh cataract theatre. If it works in Nenagh, we should be able to roll it out nationally. We know that community intervention teams, CIT, work, and they should also be rolled out nationally.