Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Wednesday, 14 June 2023
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health
Implementation of Sláintecare Reforms: Department of Health and HSE (Resumed)
Mr. Robert Watt:
Sláintecare has many different aspects. If one looks at improving capacity in the system by increasing the numbers of people and beds, significant additional costs have gone into the system, of €6 billion or €7 billion over the last five or six years. A lot of that is Sláintecare and relates to workforce capacity and beds. There are infrastructure costs. We spoke this morning about the four elective hospitals. There is the enhanced community care programme, which we will talk about in more detail this morning. That has had a cost. The digital agenda has a cost. It cuts across all aspects of the budget. I do not think one can take out an element of it.
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