Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Stanton for raising this subject and for giving me the opportunity to speak on it in the House. The tertiary referral service for cardiology and cardiothoracic surgery in the south is provided at Cork University Hospital, CUH. This includes extensive interventional cardiology services and a 24-7 cardiac catheterisation laboratory. In 2010, following an €85 million investment, the cardiac renal centre opened at CUH. This facility spans some 13,000 sq. m over six floors and was a very significant service development for the region. In 2008, CUH established a heart failure clinic. I am aware of the limitations of the current service. However, funding and service development priorities for the region must be considered in the context of the strategic plan for the south-south west hospital group. It will be up to the group to decide on its priorities for developments in the years to come.

Speaking more broadly, I welcome the publication of the report, The Cost of Heart Failure in Ireland. This report advises on future policy and direction for heart failure services. As the report acknowledges, more than half our hospitals have dedicated inpatient and outpatient heart failure services. However, it also notes that these services are not distributed evenly across the country. The report's findings will inform the HSE's national clinical programme for heart failure in its work on service development. This work will build on its previous service developments. Integrated management programmes covering primary care and hospital services are very important for the successful treatment of heart failure. They can produce significant reductions in hospitalisation for patients and achieve better quality of life and outcomes.

The Department of Health's Changing Cardiovascular Health: Cardiovascular Health Policy 2010-2019 was launched in 2010. Following this, the HSE established three key clinical cardiac programmes, namely, the acute coronary syndrome programme, the stroke programme and the heart failure programme. Through these, significant improvements have been made on access to acute treatment for coronary disease.

The HSE's national clinical programme for heart failure aims to reorganise the way heart failure patients are managed by: identifying heart failure early, in the primary care setting or in general practice ideally; intervening early by supporting GPs in primary care; developing specialist care teams, so expertise is available at primary and secondary care level, to manage and prevent deterioration, including acute exacerbations and emergency presentations; and developing the heart failure cardiac rehabilitation service nationally, for self-management support to patients and secondary prevention of deterioration and complications.

It is intended that in 2016 there will be a national needs assessment of heart failure cardiac rehabilitation services. A significant amount of important work for patients living with heart failure has been done under the programme and I am confident, with the momentum that will be generated by this report, that this will continue.

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