Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

On the last question, the progress report will be made to the Minister of Health but the Minister for Health reports to the Taoiseach in the context of the Cabinet subcommittee on health, which has a specific focus on Sláintecare. The Taoiseach holds the Department and the Minister to account on progress made.

The concept of Sláintecare is an all-party approach to ensure we have consistency in terms of providing decent health care across the country as Governments change and we are absolutely committed to this, as are other parties. We are anxious to get on with the implementation process to which we have committed. In July the Government agreed to move forward with the establishment of a dedicated programme office, specifically the recruitment of a lead executive. This marked a critical first step in gearing up for the significant programme of reform and demonstrates the Government's commitment to this process. Some €1 million has been allocated to this office for 2018 in line with the report's recommendations. The recruitment process for a head of this office is already under way and is being managed by the Public Appointments Service. It is essential that we are positioned to attract candidates of real calibre who can be responsible for driving the reform programme in which the office will be involved.

In parallel to this process the Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, is developing a response to the report and a draft implementation plan, which will be done and published by the end of this year. This process seeks 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 the interdependencies which will be necessary across Departments. It was acknowledged in the Sláintecare report that more detailed consideration of these issues would be required and this work is under way. The process is being led at a most senior level in the Department and in the HSE and also involves close engagement with the Department of the Taoiseach and the Departments of Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform. The involvement of these Departments was a key recommendation of the report and that is why it is happening. We will have an implementation plan, as recommended by the Sláintecare report, by the end of the year and the Minister, Deputy Harris, is on schedule to get that done. In parallel, we are putting in place a delivery office with people who have the motivation and talent to ensure we move the process forward into next year.

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