Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Colm Burke for raising this issue. I apologise again on behalf of the Minister for Health.

The Sláintecare integration fund formed part of the Sláintecare Action Plan 2019, which established the building blocks for a significant shift in the way in which health services are delivered in Ireland. Budget 2019 provided €20 million for the establishment of a ring-fenced Sláintecare integration fund to support service delivery with a focus on prevention, community care and integration of care across all health and social care settings.

Round one of the Sláintecare integration fund supported 123 HSE and NGO sector projects to test and evaluate innovative models of care, providing a proof of concept with a view to mainstreaming and scaling successful projects through the annual budget Estimates process. The selection criteria for funding were to encourage innovations in the shift of care to the community or provide hospital avoidance measures, scale and share examples of best practice and processes for chronic disease management and care of older people and promote the engagement and empowerment of citizens in the care of their own health. Successful Sláintecare integration fund projects were mainstreamed via the national service plans in 2021 and 2022 at an estimated cost of €24 million.

The MS Ireland Active Neuro project was mainstreamed with ring-fenced funding allocated in budget 2022 to the HSE to continue the project in 2022, and this has continued in 2023. I note MS Ireland is advocating for expansion of the service, with a specific ask for a physiotherapist to be employed in every CHO. Ultimately, any consideration of whether and how best to expand this service within the HSE would be a matter for the HSE to consider and make a business case to the Department of Health as part of the annual Estimates process in advance of the budget later in the year.

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