Ms Phil Ní Sheaghdha:

On implementation, the Chairman has said that the information he has is that 82% of the aspirations have been implemented but one only has to look at the overcrowding figures and the evidence from our members to see that there are admissions to acute hospitals for diagnostics. Diagnostics are not available in the community to any level that would alleviate the problem of the necessity for GPs to tell people to go to hospitals, sometimes at 6 a.m., in order to be in the queue for CAT scans and other diagnostic tests. It simply is not working. The making of diagnostics available outside of acute hospitals is too slow.

Likewise, 82% of all care of the older person long-term care services have been privatised. We saw what happened during the Covid pandemic, we saw what the Oireachtas committee on Covid recommended with regard to revisiting that issue and now we see the HSE's service plan, which was published last week, not making any reference to undoing the privatisation of long-term care. In fact, from the manner in which it is set out, I believe the service plan will further reduce the availability of long-stay public beds. Sláintecare makes very clear recommendations in respect of the public service providing acute and long-term care. That is certainly not happening and will not happen if this year's service plan is anything to go by.

Sláintecare also recommends regional health authorities and the integration of hospital and community care. They should be acting as one but that is not happening. We have separate budgets, which is certainly an issue on which Sláintecare is very clear. There is no evidence of change in that regard. Likewise, the recommendation on devolving decision-making away from the centre is not progressing. We have put those questions in our submission. When the committee has an opportunity to meet the HSE, we request that it put those specific questions.