Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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179. To ask the Minister for Health his views regarding voluntary hospitals establishing a new representative body, amid major concerns regarding their future. [22919/15]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I welcome the establishment of the Voluntary Healthcare Forum, which aims to promote voluntarism and its contribution to the Irish healthcare system, to participate strategically and to build collaborative partnerships between the healthcare providers, and key decision makers across Government, the Department of Health and the HSE. My Department meets with the Forum representatives on a quarterly basis.

Hospital Groups provide a real opportunity for statutory and voluntary providers to work together and build on the strengths of both sectors. The future of all hospitals is as a constituent hospital within their Group, with the expectation that every hospital in the Group, large and small, statutory and voluntary, will play a vital role within the Group.

Any programme of change on the scale of the establishment of Hospital Groups throws up issues to be addressed as new models are refined and new relationships developed. However,the health policy environment within which voluntary hospitals operate is supportive of the valuable role played by these hospitals over many decades. The future of these hospitals is very positive and this includes their new role in contributing to the success of Hospital Groups in serving population health needs.