Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I propose to take Questions Nos. 3 to 5, inclusive, together.

The Cabinet committee on health last met on 1 July 2024 and is due to meet again soon. In addition to the meetings of the full Cabinet and of Cabinet committees, I meet 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 about four main things - making healthcare more affordable, making healthcare more accessible, ensuring better outcomes for patients and reforming our health service. We are committed to expanding the core capacity of our acute hospitals with more health professionals and more acute hospital beds. We have added more than 1,000 permanent beds to the health service since 2020 when this Government came into office. We have increased the total public health sector workforce by more than 28,000 since the beginning of 2020, which includes 9,000 nurses and midwives, over 4,000 social care professionals and over 3,000 doctors and dentists. There is a strong pipeline of capital projects. I opened a new five-bed ward block in Portiuncula hospital last week and phase 1 of the new National Rehabilitation Hospital. There are several new hospitals and significant new facilities for existing hospitals are under way or in the pipeline.

Our multi-annual approach to waiting lists resulted in an overall reduction in the number of patients exceeding the Sláintecare waiting times by 22% since the pandemic peaks. Waiting lists fell last year for the second year in a row. This is interesting at a time when they are not falling in many other countries, including nearby jurisdictions. The figures that matter most are the number of patients waiting longer than the agreed Sláintecare maximum wait time targets of ten to 12 weeks. Most of us adopted the all-party report relating to this in 2017. The fairest way of measuring waiting lists involves people who are waiting longer than the Sláintecare target.

The enhanced community care programme continues to improve healthcare at a more local level and alleviate pressure on hospitals. The majority of community healthcare networks, community intervention teams and community support teams are now in place and providing care closer to home.

We are also making healthcare more affordable at a time when the cost-of-living crisis is continuing to affect everyone by removing hospital inpatient charges, widening eligibility for the GP card and reducing the drug payment scheme threshold, among other things. Budget 2024 funding provides funding of hundreds of millions of euro for waiting lists and action on urgent and emergency care; investments in our workforce such as advanced practice, more college and training places and more hospital consultants; the first full-year programme of publicly funded assisted human reproduction services, including IVF; further expansion of the free contraception scheme to include women aged 35; and additional staffing for CAMHS teams.

Our health and social care service has its challenges but our systems are responding and we have expanded the health service dramatically in recent years. We are treating more people with better outcomes than ever before. Interestingly, Ireland has the highest self-perceived health status in the EU, with 80% of people rating their health as good or very good. Our life expectancy is continuing to increase and is above international averages. Ireland is among a group of seven EU countries where life expectancy is above 82. We continue to reduce mortality rates for stroke and certain cancers and report positive trends in preventative health. Our age-standardised mortality rates have declined for all causes over the past decade by more than 10%.

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