Caít Keane (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire chuig an Teach seo le haghaidh an díospóireacht an-tábhachtach atá ar bun againn inniu. I am speaking today on behalf of my party's health spokesperson, Senator Colm Burke, who cannot be here today and who sends his apologies. I commend the Minister for Health on the launch of the report on hospital groupings. The Minister has signalled the fundamental modernisation of the organisation of our health service, in line with best practice internationally. The traditional practice of providing as many services as possible in every hospital was neither sustainable nor safe. We must ensure that everybody who goes into hospital is safe, first and foremost and that the services being provided are sustainable. The formation of acute hospitals into groups, each with its own governance and management, will provide an optimum configuration for hospitals to deliver services to a very high standard in a way that is safe, efficient and cost-effective and I hope that when the Minister returns in a year's time, my words in this regard will be proven. The current organisational structures have restricted the development of hospital management systems and the leadership we require to run a world-class national hospital network. In reforming the structures the Minister has promoted new governance structures that will yield benefits from increased independence and greater control. Leadership is important in every hospital and the new structures will give autonomy, power and responsibility in terms of the duty of care to the leaders of the hospital groupings. I visited Tallaght hospital recently with the Minister and was very impressed with the grouping I was shown that day. The management system in place there now, under Dr. Eilish Hardiman, is most impressive and the figures in Tallaght speak for themselves.

In drawing up the hospital groups report, consultation was a priority. All of those on the ground in the hospital system, including consultants, management and so forth, were all consulted in the drawing up of the Higgins report. The aim of all hospital groups is the delivery of cost-effective hospital care in a sustainable and timely manner. At the aforementioned briefing in Tallaght, I discovered that the hospital in Naas, which is now part of the Tallaght hospital grouping, is doing marvellous work with stroke victims using the latest technology and in co-operation with other hospitals in its group.

The Minister made reference to the possibility of saving one extra life per week and preventing three people from entering long-term care every week. While I agree it is vitally important that lives are saved - that is what every doctor wants - it is equally important that we prevent people ending up in long-term care. Long-term care costs the State a lot of money so this is a cost-saving exercise as much as anything else. When one talks about health, one is reluctant to refer to costs but it is a fact that long-term care is costly.

I was pleased to hear about the appointments made, and the Minister mentioned that the chairs of the group would be appointed by mid-July. All of the appointments are based on competences that an individual brings to the board in line with the HIQA report. There will be no prevention of appropriate representation of geographical areas in the groups, as the Minister stated. Will he elaborate on how that will be achieved?

The panel of experts in drafting the report have done the State a service and the figures speak for themselves. Since the Minister took office, the number of patients has decreased, which means the system is being reformed. For example, the number of people on a waiting list for more than three months for a procedure has been reduced by 18% and at the end of 2011, 1,759 children were waiting over 20 weeks for inpatient or day care surgery but within a year, the waiting list has been reduced to 89.

There is a value for money aspect to this for taxpayers. Very often in the political sphere one would see a criticism in moving away from small hospitals and what that would mean for the local community. The Minister indicated in his speech that small hospitals will be doing more work in a safer way and the work will be appropriate to the job they were set up to do. As the Minister mentioned, Roscommon hospital has seen extra facilities and patients, which is testimony to what this process is bringing to the system. The Minister has seen politicians on the street and when he has tried to bring about centres treating a patient under one roof, political lobbyists ask why the Minister is taking away local hospitals, but this is proof that there will be more work in local hospitals that will be safe, fast, efficient and local to the community.

The idea of money following the patient is important as some hospitals are closing systems when the budget runs out. Will the Minister comment on the system of money following the patient and how it will work? It is an important element of managing budgets in the hospital.