Mr. Paul Reid:

To respect members' time, we have just one opening statement. I will touch on some aspects of it but not maybe all of it. It is all on the record, obviously placed before the committee. I am grateful for the invitation to appear before the Special Committee on Covid-19. I am joined by my colleagues, Ms Anne O’Connor, chief operations officer for the HSE, and Dr Colm Henry, our chief clinical officer.

I am aware that the special committee wishes to discuss three matters: testing and tracing; congregated settings; and the reopening of the economy. The first two items are obviously specifically relevant to the HSE. I will make a few opening remarks before focusing on those two issues.

Members will already be aware that the health services have faced the worst pandemic in living memory. Since we became aware of the pandemic, the HSE has worked tirelessly to build our defences to protect the public from this potentially deadly virus. My first message today is that while we have collectively managed to significantly reduce the transmission rate of Covid-19, the HSE remains resolute in its work to combat the virus. However, we are still dealing with the virus and its potential impacts as we are here today, and we will be contending with COVID-19 for some considerable time to come.

Working with the board of the HSE, my primary focus as CEO is to continue the good work that has been completed to date in dealing with the impact of the virus and to ensure that we prepare for future potential surges. The public would accept nothing less of us.

It is important to cast our minds back to late February and early March 2020 and recall the worrying scenes that were witnessed from Italy and many other countries in Europe with intensive care units and hospitals becoming overwhelmed with the dreadful virus.

Having worked for 30 years in the private sector and for now nine years in the public service, I have never seen such significant and important change undertaken and implemented by so many dedicated people in such a short timeframe. I am extremely proud of how the healthcare system has responded in such difficult and worrying circumstances. I pay particular tribute to our front-line workers. I also recognise the contribution of the voluntary sector and many within the private healthcare sector who have collaborated with us in the national effort. This has been with the support of major Departments and State agencies. I also thank the political system overall for giving us its support throughout, particularly in the early phases of this pandemic.

I will reference some of the achievements we have managed to put in place in recent weeks to protect the public. We have strengthened our ICU capacity from a base of 225 beds to an operable capacity of just over 400 beds, putting in place a surge plan with the support of the purchase of extra ventilators. We have secured a large and sustainable supply of PPE and other equipment in a highly volatile global market. This has been achieved with the support of major State agencies, particularly IDA Ireland and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

We have put in place agreements with over 3,500 GPs across the country to support us on new pathways of care. We have had the mobilisation of the National Ambulance Service in a way that has never been done before. We have 47 swab testing centres across the country. We have moved from having one laboratory supporting testing to having 41 laboratories now involved. Some 1,800 staff have been trained in contact tracing. We have provided a wide range of supports to long-term residential care facilities. We have put in place innovative ways to support vulnerable groups. We have the use of telehealth, with new technologies deployed over a very short space of time.

This has all been achieved in a very short time and I thank all the agencies and Departments which have worked with us throughout this. I pay particular thanks to our front-line workers who have pioneered many new ways of working and have shown an agility and resilience that has been truly extraordinary. Many lives have been saved because of their skill, innovation and commitment. I am, however, deeply conscious that many have lost loved ones during the Covid-19 pandemic, including healthcare workers. I again extend my sincere condolences to all of those families.

Testing and tracing have represented a very significant mobilisation for the HSE overall. Last week, we published our change management plan to give us the capacity to process 100,000 tests per week. This involved 41 laboratories now for Covid testing, the availability of 47 swabbing centres across the country, and the deployment of new systems and supports to improve automation and turnaround times.

Along with the increased capacity we have recently introduced some innovations. These include a GP service called “Find my Test” for tests which go beyond the committed time frames; a 14-day active management of contacts of a confirmed case; automatic texting of confirmed negative cases, speeding up receipt of this result; automatic testing for contacts of a confirmed case; automated scheduling of appointments to reduce waiting times; automatic test referral for contacts of confirmed cases; improved notification of complex cases to our public health teams; and an automated IT solution that now transfers test results to our contact tracing teams in 90 minutes where previously it was 24 hours.

I am pleased to report significant progress which has put us in a much stronger position to achieve our capacity on targets for the coming weeks. Our focus now is to improve turnaround times significantly. We have committed to an average turnaround time from swabbing to test result-----