Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to do so. I thank all Deputies who have contributed and assure them that these contributions are noted and will be brought back to Deputy Harris, the Minister responsible for the implementation of this report. I also thank the Deputies who contributed to the Sláintecare report committee. I was an early member of that committee myself but had to come off it due being involved with too many other committees at the time. I thank all of those committee members for their time, their contributions and for the dedication and commitment they gave to the committee. On behalf of the Minister for Health and like many others in the House today, I also acknowledge Deputy Shortall's leadership of that committee. This was, to my mind, an example of politics at its best. We can talk about politics and about politicians in various guises but this showed politics working very well, with a group of ideologically differing individuals able to sit down together and put in a lot of hard work, engagement, reading, consultation and resources. The members were able to reach a consensus and plan a future for health care for the next ten years. The Vision for Change mental health strategy, an example from my area of responsibility, shows what has been achieved over the last ten years and what dynamic changes have taken place in that time. We can never be completely satisfied, of course, but if we compare the days when mental health care meant institutionalised care with what we have today with CAMHS and the work of various organisations, it is clear that there has been a radical transformation of mental health care. We can be equally ambitious for the radical transformation of our broader health care system over the coming ten year period.

The Minister has supported the work of the committee since it was established and he has strongly welcomed the consensus achieved and the vision and principles that underpin the report. The Government is committed to making tangible and sustainable improvements in our health services and the Sláintecare report now provides a framework and a direction of travel within which to do this. We have an unprecedented level of consensus and support for the vision and strategic direction outlined in the report. The Minister has indicated his intention to harness this and to work with colleagues across the political spectrum and all stakeholders to move forward on a programme of health reform. The Government has already given its approval to move ahead with the establishment of a Sláintecare programme office in the Department of Health. This office will be tasked with implementing a programme of reform as agreed by Government and arising from the Sláintecare report. Recruitment will commence shortly. In parallel to this, work is underway in the Department of Health to develop a detailed response to the report for consideration by Government in December of this year. The process will seek to translate the Sláintecare report into a programme of action for the next ten years and will consider issues that arise in designing such a programme including key actions, deliverables, costings, timelines and key performance indicators. It was acknowledged in the Sláintecare report that more detailed consideration of these issues would be required and this work is ongoing.

Many of the recommendations in the Sláintecare report are already policy priorities, including the roll-out of our eHealth and health and well-being strategies, the development of a new GP contract, proposals for enhancing community nursing services, further roll-out of integrated care programmes, the undertaking of a capacity review and the development of an integrated workforce planning framework. The Minister is also anxious to advance a number of the Sláintecare report proposals which he regards as early priorities. In October he announced the following steps that he is taking in this regard: an impact study of the removal of private practice from public hospitals, to be chaired by Dr. Dónal de Buitléir and with terms of reference and further members of the group to be published shortly; a public consultation process on the future alignment of hospital groups and community health organisations, to commence next month; and plans to establish a governing board to oversee the HSE's performance. As well as this, most of the additional funding for new health initiatives in budget 2018 has been targeted at areas identified in the Sláintecare report: the new primary care fund of €25 million; the additional home care and transition beds at €37 million; a reduction in medicine and prescription charges at €17.5 million; targeted funding for waiting list reduction at €75 million; and a new Sláintecare implementation office at €1 million.

To conclude, I assure the Deputies that I will relay the comments they raised here today back to the Minister for Health. I am sure that this debate will continue for some time.

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