Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for the opportunity. The goal is universal healthcare. What is the coming budget, the funding in the Supplementary Estimate we are discussing today, being used for? It being used to reduce costs for patients; reduce waiting lists, and we have reduced waiting lists for the second year; and roll out new services, including women’s healthcare, cancer care, trauma care and other areas. We are doing that in part through the biggest expansion in the healthcare capacity that I am aware of and possibly the biggest there has ever been. We have increased the number of hospital beds by nearly 1,100 and the number of staff by 23,000. We have a new network of primary care centres all over the country which is a game changer. We are investing based on the Sláintecare philosophy of providing care in the community, investing in GPs and providing care closer to home, while building up the capacity of the hospital sector. It is about fundamentally improving how and where that care is delivered. That involves public-only contracts and a focus on productivity, of which there has not been enough. Essentially, it starts and ends with the patient and involves better, earlier and affordable care for everybody. At a simple level, healthcare for everybody is what we are trying to do.