Written answers

Wednesday, 1 February 2017

Department of Health

Health Services Provision

Photo of Bernard DurkanBernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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298. To ask the Minister for Health the degree to which the delivery of health services here continues to be compared with such services in other jurisdictions with a view to identifying and adapting the most effective, efficient and satisfactory practices and the elimination of the opposite; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4924/17]

Photo of Simon HarrisSimon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The development of health services in Ireland is subject to on-going enhancement and improvement processes and initiatives to ensure the delivery of high quality care in the most effective and efficient manner. As a general principle, these processes and initiatives are informed by national and international best practice.

As the Deputy will appreciate, there are a range of initiatives under way across the health service in this regard. I have sought to highlight some of these in this response.

My Department publishes the National Healthcare Quality Reporting System annually on its website. This reports on the performance indicators that reflect on the quality of the healthcare provided at national, regional and hospital level, and allows for the comparison of the quality of healthcare and variation across our country and at international level.

As part of our suite of clinical effectiveness processes, National Clinical Guidelines, National Clinical Audit and Standards for Clinical Practice Guidance provide a robust evidence-based framework for improving and standardising service design and delivery. These processes are informed by and benchmarked against international standards. To date, 14 National Clinical Guidelines in the areas of clinical deterioration, cancer and palliative care, hospital acquired infections and chronic diseases have been published by the National Clinical Effectiveness Committee (NCEC). These are evidence based guidelines developed to international standards.

The Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) undertakes health technology assessments which evaluates the clinical and cost effectiveness of health technologies such as drugs, equipment, diagnostic techniques and health promotion activities. These assessments take account of international best practice and provide the basis for informing national policy, service decisions and National Clinical Guidelines.

There are a number of other efficiency and effectiveness tools in use, for example Activity Based Funding, and Value for Money reviews.

Activity Based Funding (ABF) is a new model for funding public hospital care. It involves moving away from block grant budgets to a new system where hospitals are paid for the volume and quality of care provided. Key benefits that are expected from the introduction of ABF include increased fairness in resource allocation, improved efficiency and increased transparency.

Under the current public spending code, the Department is required to work with the HSE on the rolling value for money (VFM) assessment of spending programmes. This will be in the form of VFM and Policy Reviews and smaller Focused Policy Assessments. As outlined in the my Department's new Statement of Strategy, the next VFM assessment will be a review of the costs of long-term residential facilities for older people within the public sector.

More generally, my Department and its agencies actively collaborate with international organisations conducting work in the area of health including the European Union, the World Health Organisation, the OECD and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence in the UK. This includes participation in data collection initiatives. International collaboration and engagement presents a useful opportunity for sharing research, best practice and expertise and provides an important input to national policy development.

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