Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Question 218: To ask the Minister for Health the progress made toward the development of hospital trusts; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36751/11]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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The health service requires strong management capacity to deliver on service targets in an effective and efficient way within available resources, and also to lead change in a complex environment. As stated in the Programme for Government, in conjunction with the introduction of universal health insurance, public hospitals will become independent, not-for-profit trusts. This will require the development of the necessary corporate governance, management and clinical capacity to ensure that these hospitals are equipped to function efficiently and effectively, once established as independent service providers.

The establishment of hospital trusts is an important stepping stone towards the introduction of universal health insurance which is the ultimate destination of the Governments reform programme. My first priority has been the establishment of the special Delivery Unit to tackle patient flows and, specifically, the crisis in the Emergency Departments in our hospital system. To make such change sustainable there must be genuine accountability across the system and hospital trusts will be a key part of this. My Department has already begun some preliminary work looking at comparable models in other jurisdictions.