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

I propose to take Questions Nos. 5 to 13 together. The Cabinet committee on health last met on 19 June and is currently scheduled to meet next on 24 July. The Cabinet committee on health oversees the programme for Government commitments relating to health and receives detailed reports on identified policy areas. It considers the progress of health reforms including Sláintecare, the reform of disability services and the development of mental health services. The Cabinet committee also maintains an overview of public health, including the impact of Covid-19.

Drugs policy is multifaceted and involves work carried out by multiple Government Departments. The focus of a particular drug policy would inform which Cabinet committee considers it. In addition to the meetings of the full Cabinet and Cabinet committees, I meet with Ministers on an individual basis to focus on different issues. I meet regularly with the Minister for Health to discuss progress and challenges in the area of health, including the Sláintecare reform programme.

Sláintecare is happening with the support and oversight of the Department of the Taoiseach through the Cabinet committee on health, which I chair. It is about four main things: making healthcare more affordable, making it more accessible for our people, ensuring better outcomes for patients and reforming the way our health services operate. We are committed to expanding the core capacity of our acute hospitals with more health professionals and more acute hospital beds. Over the past three years, we have added nearly 1,000 hospital beds and 360 community beds, with further additional beds being planned for this year and next year. We have increased the total public health sector workforce by more than 20,000 since this Government was formed. That includes 6,500 extra nurses and midwives. We now have among the highest number of nurses and midwives per bed and per head in the world. There are 3,200 social care professionals and 2,000 doctors and dentists, bringing us to or slightly ahead of the OECD average.

There is a strong pipeline of capital projects, including several new hospitals and significant new facilities for existing hospitals. Just over €440 million is being provided to reduce waiting lists in 2023. Our multi-annual approach resulted in an overall reduction in the number of patients waiting more than ten to 12 weeks by 11% in 2022, with a target of a further reduction of approximately 10% for 2023. The funding includes €123 million on a recurrent basis for the HSE to introduce modernised care pathways and €80 million has been allocated to various primary care and community care initiatives.

The enhanced community care programme continues to improve healthcare at a more local level. This programme, which is investing €240 million in community health services, is easing pressure on hospitals and in more acute settings. The majority of community healthcare networks, community intervention teams and community support teams are now in place and are providing care closer to home. In the first full year post-implementation, it is projected that the community healthcare networks and community specialist teams will enable between 16,000 and 21,000 patients to avoid attendance at an emergency department.

Work is also ongoing on the reconfiguration of the HSE organisational structures into six new health regions and the establishment of elective care centres in Dublin, Cork and Galway, as well as surgical hubs in Dublin, Cork, Galway, Limerick and Waterford in the interim. We are also making healthcare more affordable at a time when the cost of living is affecting everyone. We have abolished inpatient hospital charges. We are widening eligibility for the GP card, which will allow hundreds of thousands more people to attend their GP without incurring fees. Deputies will be aware of the announcement that was made today that it will be extended to an extra 500,000 people by Christmas. The drug payment scheme threshold also was further reduced so that no individual or household will have to pay more than €80 a month for prescribed medicines.

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