Michael Harty (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I acknowledge that there have been huge improvements in some sections of our health service. The difficulty with planning the health service is that it is fragmented. There is a lack of integration and of an overall plan in the health service. A ten year vision for the service is lacking. We move from crisis to crisis and from year to year. There are annual budgets but there must be multi-annual budgets. There must be a new framework for how we fund the health service. Underpinning that, there must be governance, accountability and answerability in the service. We must introduce legislation. The most important aspects of this report are the introduction of legislation and the establishment of an implementation office. If an implementation office is not introduced within the first three months of the report being published we will know whether the Government is serious about this. We must have this reform driven forward and introduce legislation, governance and accountability, which is sadly lacking in our health service. I earnestly request that the Government take on a ten year vision for change and not allow our fragmented service to continue.

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