Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Question 354: To ask the Minister for Health his views on the impact in recent years on demand for publicly funded health services arising from persons relinquishing private medical insurance; if he expects further pressure on the public health system in 2012 arising from likely private medical insurance increases; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40675/11]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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It is difficult to predict with certainty the likely impact of any reduction in the uptake of private health insurance (PHI) on the demand for public hospital services. Much depends on the numbers of people who reduce the level of cover offered by their PHI plans, and on the numbers who might stop purchasing PHI altogether.

There is no doubt that public hospital services will face an extremely challenging year. The current economic environment and the need to reduce public expenditure on health services will make difficult for hospitals to meet all of the needs of patients. However, the decision to raise more funding through additional charges for private care in public hospitals offers some assistance in this regard. The income from private charges will help reduce the extent to which services for public patients would otherwise be negatively affected.

I am committed to ensuring the best possible service to public patients in our acute hospitals. While the year ahead will be difficult, I believe that a well managed system will lead to most effective service for all patients. The work of the SDU will be important in this regard.

The SDU was established in June with the key aim of unblocking access to acute services by improving patient journeys through the system. The SDU is working closely with the HSE, building on existing initiatives, including the Clinical Care Programmes.

As a priority the SDU is working with the HSE to put in place a systematic approach to eliminate excessive waiting in emergency departments. On scheduled care the priority is to address waiting times for in-patient and daycase treatment. The NTPF in partnership with the SDU are currently working with hospitals to ensure that by the end of 2011 no one will be waiting longer than 12 months for inpatient and day case treatment.

The SDU is establishing an infrastructure based on information collection and analysis, hospital by hospital, so that we will know what is actually happening in real time. This will allow us to begin to embed performance management in the system, to build capacity and capability, to create and sustain improvements and to lay the foundations for a new accountability framework.

The work of the SDU, together with implementation of the Clinical Care Programmes in the HSE, will help to improve the efficiency of our hospitals and ensure that, within the level of resources available, the maximum number of patients are treated.