Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I thank Mr. Gloster. I have two specific questions for him. We are almost at the end of the first quarter and we have not yet seen the HSE's 2023 service plan. Service providers all over the country are waiting for details of their allocation. It is incredible that it is so late. What are his intentions in regard to the service plan and when can we expect to see it?

I note from his opening statement that Mr. Gloster says he wants to devote specific attention to mental health services. Is it his intention to reinstate the national director of mental health and, if so, when does he intend to do that?

On the national service plan, I have met with Minister. I have also met with the chair of the HSE board and discussed it with him several times, including last weekend. I am due to meet with the Minister, the Secretary General and the chair of the HSE board tomorrow. I hope to receive clarification in that context. The Deputy will appreciate it is for the Minister to make the final determination, but it is imminent. I will also say that we are working operationally to the details of the service plan drafted before my arrival. We are not waiting for the finalisation of the plan when it comes to getting on with day-to-day business. I hope it is imminent. To be fair to the Minister, I do not want to speak for him beyond that.

On mental health, I believe it requires serious attention at every level in the healthcare system, be it nationally, regionally or locally. I hold the same view when it comes to the experience of children and adults with disability. Events like the pandemic and other things, and successive years of challenge, have meant those two groups have sometimes become secondary, albeit unintentionally. The demands are ever increasing for them. The difficulty with a national director for mental health as a construct for running mental health services is that one is immediately taking one part out of the integrated system, intended for the RHA. At the most senior level possible, within the new centre I propose to design in the HSE, I intend having a dedicated focus on mental health and disability, which would be part of a smaller centre reporting directly to me and driving the improvement system. We need to put our hands up and say, notwithstanding all the good work done, that the experience of people with disabilities and people in the broader mental health system is an area in which we have a way to go before we can say we are content and happy and doing the best we can. That is not without recognising the good work being done.