Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein)
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105. To ask the Minister for Health the research that is being conducted specifically on universal health care; if he is aware of research being undertaken by other groups outside his Department on universal health care; if he will bring these strands together to ensure co-operation, information exchange and economies of scale [20936/16]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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My Department is funding the Joint Department of Health/ ESRI Research Programme in Healthcare Reform. The initial phase of this programme involved a research project on costing the UHI model outlined in the White Paper on Universal Health Insurance.The reports setting out the findings of the costing project were published on the 18^thNovember, 2015. Links to these reports are available on the Department’s website (www.health.gov.ie).

The current programme of work for the Research Programme focuses on the development of a medium-term projection model for healthcare demand and expenditure, which includes analysis of utilisation and unmet need. Separately, my Department is part of the SWITCH Research Programme which enables the Department to estimate the impact of changes to health policy on the population. While these various projects each have value in their own right they are also relevant to work on universal health care.

In addition, the Health Research Board has provided funding to a number of groups outside my Department that are undertaking research relevant to universal healthcare. These include the following projects:

Mapping the Pathways to Universal Health Care in Ireland, a three year project which runs from October 2014 into 2017 involving a collaboration between the Centre for Health Policy and Management, TCD and staff from the Health Systems Strengthening Offices of WHO Europe and the European Observatory.

An Inter-sectoral analysis by geographic area of the need for and the supply and utilisation of health services in Ireland undertaken by the ESRI which is due to report in 2017.

Developing a unit cost database for non-acute services in Ireland, this five year award is led by NUI Galway including national and international collaborators.

Study of the Impact of Reconfiguration on Emergency and Urgent Care Networks (SIREN), this programme of research is led by University College Cork in collaboration with a number of co-applicants.

HRB Centre for Primary Care Research, this Centre was established in 2008, is a national centre for research in primary care in Ireland, led by the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, in collaboration with Trinity College Dublin, Queen’s University Belfast.

My Department works to ensure appropriate linkages and cooperation between the various strands and stakeholders.

Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein)
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106. To ask the Minister for Health further to Parliamentary Question No. 106 of 2 June 2016, if the research being undertaken by his Department and the Economic and Social Research Institute three-year programme on health reform will be available to the new joint Oireachtas committee that has been established to develop cross-party consensus on the future of the health service over ten years, as per the programme for Government and Government approval; if he will make available the research undertaken to date to the committee; if he will designate a liaison officer within his Department in order that members of this committee may direct queries specific to the committee work to that person; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20937/16]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I welcome the establishment of the Committee on the Future of Healthcare which is a key commitment in the Programme for a Partnership Government.

The resourcing of the Committee and how it discharges its functions are matters for the Committee and the Houses of the Oireachtas Service. Senior officials from my Department have already met with the Committee and my Department will continue to assist and advise the Committee, as appropriate.As part of that commitment to provide support, my Department is currently making arrangements for the secondment of an Assistant Principal Officer - Health Sector Policy Analyst - to the Houses of the Oireachtas Service Committees' Secretariat to support the work of the Joint Committee on Health and the Committee on the Future of Healthcare.