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

The Cabinet committee on health last met on 30 May. A date for the next meeting has not yet been confirmed. I have said that I intend to reconfigure the Cabinet committees into a smaller number. I expect to do this shortly.

The committee provides a basis for the political oversight of the development and delivery of key health service reforms in line with the commitments in A Programme for a Partnership Government.

The programme'spriority is access to safe and timely care that is provided as close as possible to patients' homes. This will be achieved by making a decisive shift to primary care, guaranteeing the future sustainability of practice in rural and disadvantaged urban areas, creating a healthy Ireland, building capacity for our emergency and acute services, improving waiting times for hospital procedures, reforming the HSE into a more efficient and transparent health service for patients and staff and developing a new funding model for the health services.

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