Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Cullinane for that. I will answer his second question first. Ms McGirr is on the task force and is well placed to give the Deputy an update on his first question.

On the changes to work practices, what we are doing is pursuing what was called for in Sláintecare. For me, there are three pieces to this, namely, structural changes to get better productivity, operational changes and technological changes. The main structural change is moving from hospital care to community care. We all know that and are all signed up to treating people in the least expensive setting possible, which, obviously, still has to be clinically appropriate. For me, that is one of the big structural changes. The move to the six regions is a structural change. We have been involved in large changes in the past four or five years in health to create a more cost-effective model of care. That is the first thing.

The second thing is operational changes. We have a way to go in this regard. For example, operational changes include increasing theatre utilisation, which to my mind is too low, and increasing outpatient clinic utilisation and other day-to-day operational changes that are being made, in some hospitals more than others, to drive day-to-day productivity. Are we treating as many patients as possible every day in our operating theatres? Are we seeing as many patients as possible every day in our outpatient clinics? Are we scanning as many as patients as possible every day with whatever radiology facilities we have? That is a big change. We have brought in the new HPVP productivity platform, and we are in the middle of a fundamental change in culture, approach and performance management. The new consultant contract is part of that. There is a day-to-day operational productivity.

The third one is technological productivity. We cannot ask our health professionals to run a modern service from a productivity perspective unless we give them the tools to do that. We all know Ireland has a long way to go in terms of e-health and digital health services. Shortly, we will have our first patient app, which will have basic records. By the end of next year, we will have a shared care record which will be a big leap forward. The third thing we are doing is rolling out e-health or a digital health service.