James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)

The new HSE board held its first meeting this morning. The new, largely executive, board will meet more frequently than its predecessor and I will be briefed about board business on a regular basis by the chairman, Dr. Frank Dolphin, the CEO, Mr. Cathal Magee, and the Secretary General of my Department, Mr. Michael Scanlan. The board will focus on operational excellence and its membership includes a strong element of service delivery. I have asked the board as one of its priority tasks to examine how it will streamline reporting relationships to ensure decisions are implemented quickly and better services can be delivered for patients as a result. Under the old system, decisions made within the HSE were reported up through the system and across to the relevant section of the Department and the Secretary General. That circuitous route has been removed and they all sit at the top table together so decisions can be made and implemented without the need for a tortuous chain of command.

I appointed the board following discussions with the chairman and CEO of the HSE and my Secretary General. I have also asked the CEO and the Secretary General to review the existing senior management roles and responsibilities in both organisations, address any duplication of functions and explore the scope for more conjoined working. This will free up expert individuals who are at present engaged in the duplication of work to undertake important tasks such as examining risk equalisation.

I want to develop strong and coherent governance arrangements for the entire health care system which will continue to operate after the abolition of the existing legal governance structure. This will facilitate the Government's plans to reform the system. In the short term, we plan to establish a special delivery unit to address waiting lists. Over the longer term, our goal is to eliminate the two-tier health service and move to a system of universal health insurance, whereby everyone in this country is treated on the basis of need rather than ability to pay.

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