Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

-----but I am very cognisant of the fact that I am in an unusual position. Whatever resistance there may be, it typically would not be aired in front a Minister. Let us be clear about that. Would there have been and is there resistance within the system to large-scale programmes of reform, including this? Of course, there will be. If we were engaged in large-scale reform in the Oireachtas, there would be resistance. There also would be resistance in companies. People resist loss or perceived loss. When the ambition for reform is as big as ours is for the healthcare system, of course there will be people worried, scared or threatened by that and who do not agree with it. I want to be clear. I am not suggesting for a moment that every single person across the health system is lined up, shoulder to shoulder, reading through the committee report and saying, "This is how I am going to do it". That is not how it works. Of course, there will be resistance. Do the Sláintecare team and the director, Mr. Patterson, encounter resistance to change within the system? I bet they do. Of course, they do. Anybody who is trying to drive large systemic change comes up against resistance.

We can take that as a given in any ambitious programme of reform. The question that is most important for me is: is whatever resistance may be there slowing us down and is it making us fail on behalf of men, women and children in this country?. To answer that question, I have to return to the Sláintecare progress report I get. It says 97% were on track or on track with minor issues.

That was in the report I got. When I ask that question, of course there will be resistance. However, is the change happening because ultimately that is all that matters? The answer l have is the score of 97%. If any of us, in any aspect of life, was handed a progress report with a 97% figure, we would be able to see a lot of change happening. There are areas where more needs to be done. We have talked about ehealth, for example. We are laggards in ehealth and have to do more on that. We have talked about regionalisation at length here. My view is that it was paused for the right reasons, and we are now moving on that again. The third project in the report was waiting lists. We have an ambitious plan of work on waiting lists. That is what is happening.

As I said to Deputy Durkan earlier, if I had come here today to account to the Oireachtas, with Mr. Watt, as the Accounting Officer, and the Oireachtas said to us that it had allocated us €1.2 billion, but we had not added the beds, the people, or the diagnostics, we would be having a different conversation. However, that is not the case. As Deputy Cullinane pointed out, the money has not all been spent, and we all understand why that is.

I was handed a report from my project team giving a 97% score. At the same time, the HSE has reported back to me about record numbers on beds, staff, diagnostics, and on all of these areas. Therefore, while we can all say this bit or that bit has not been done, I think in the round, we have to accept the overwhelming evidence that not only is change happening and progress is being made, it is being made at measurable record levels. That is my sense, although I do not want to give the impression that I have come in to say that there is no resistance anywhere. Of course, there will be resistance, as there is always resistance to big, ambitious change. However, it is not slowing us down. I would argue that we are going faster than ever.