Michael Harty (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I will make a few general points on this amendment. The Sláintecare report was published in May 2017, almost two years ago. One of the main recommendations of the report was to reinstate a HSE board. In November 2017, the Taoiseach, in response to a question I put to him in the House, stated that the Government was reversing its policy on abolishing the HSE board and would reinstate it. Now, 18 months later, it is important that we get this HSE (Governance) Bill absolutely correct. Sláintecare is very strong on patient and clinical involvement.

It is important that this Bill reflects the amendment that was introduced on Committee Stage. Unfortunately, the Minister was not available to attend that meeting. Perhaps we might have been able to thrash it out then if the Minister's expertise had been available. Nevertheless, the committee decided that there should be two clinical members of the board. After all, the Health Service Executive will oversee Sláintecare reform if it is given sufficient funding to develop its programme of reform and action plan. It is essential that there are two clinical experts on the board and I will certainly oppose any move away from that.

The Minister and Dr. Scally know how important it is to have patient advocates on a board. It is also critical to have persons with clinical expertise on how to deliver a service on a board. Any board that does not include clinical expertise will not be able to deliver the reform and oversee the health service as we wish it to. In that regard, I will support Deputy Donnelly's proposal.

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