Written answers

Tuesday, 23 October 2018

Photo of Joan CollinsJoan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independent)
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389. To ask the Minister for Health the status of the implementation of Sláintecare. [43347/18]

Photo of Simon HarrisSimon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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This  Government is fully committed to improving and transforming our health services to provide high quality, fair and accessible care to the population. It has approved the Sláintecare Implementation Strategy as Government policy and the vehicle to achieve this transformational reform. I am conscious of the cross party support for Sláintecare and will work to maintain this throughout implementation. I would like to assure the Deputy that Sláintecare implementation is a key priority for me and the Government.

The Sláintecare Implementation Strategy was published in August. The Strategy provides the framework within which a system-wide reform programme will be advanced to deliver the Committee's vision of a health system in which care is provided in the right place, at the right time, by the right person and is always provided on the basis of need and not ability to pay. The Implementation Strategy contains 106 linked actions to be delivered over the first 3 years of implementation. 

In tandem, a dedicated Sláintecare Programme Office has been established in the Department of Health. This office is tasked with leading the implementation of the Strategy. An experienced Executive Director has been appointed to lead the Sláintecare Programme Office and recruitment of staff is currently under way.

Other Sláintecare implementation structures are also being established. The Sláintecare Implementation Advisory Council will hold its inaugural meeting on 24th October. Dr. Tom Keane has been appointed as Chair of the Council.

The Programme Office has commenced the preparation of a detailed action plan for 2019 which will be published before the end of this year. This will include detailed milestones and timelines for year one and the assignment of responsibility for each action.

The Programme Office is also designing an inclusive consultation and communication process for the public and staff in the health sector. Communication and consultation was identified as a critical requirement in implementation by the Committee on the Future of Healthcare.

A number of specific actions in the Implementation Strategy are already under way. The independent review of the impacts of the removal of private practice from public hospitals is ongoing and expected to report before the end of 2018.

Renegotiation of the GP contract has commenced with GP representatives on a package of measures including service improvements and reforms to the GMS contract.

Government approval has been secured for the establishment of an independent board for the HSE. The Bill has passed committee stage in the Seanad and it is hoped that it will be enacted this year.

A public consultation on the geo-alignment of Hospital Groups and Community Healthcare Organisations has been completed. This is the first step in a process of broader health service structural reform.

Finally, budget 2019 features over €200m additional funding which will directly support a range of additional services including initiatives proposed in the Sláintecare Report and committed to in the Sláintecare Implementation Strategy including: 

- Ringfenced funding for the Sláintecare Programme Office;

- €20m for the establishment of a new ringfenced Sláintecare Integration Fund to drive improvements in the way we deliver care across the system;

- Funding for a new GP contract;

- Expansion of free GP care, by an increase in the weekly income threshold for GP Visit card by €25 which could benefit up to 100,000 people;

- Additional funding for 100 new therapy posts to address assessment of need waiting lists for children with disabilities and funding to ensure that the needs of all those leaving school in 2019 will be addressed;

- €55m in new development funding aimed at further enhancing community mental health teams for adults and children;

- Reducing user charges and out of pocket payments by further reductions in prescription charges - 50 cent reduction in prescription charges from €2.00 to €1.50 for all medical card holders over the age of 70 and by a €10 reduction in the monthly Drugs Payment Scheme threshold from €134 to €124; 

- Increased investment of €20m in the National Treatment Purchase Fund.  This funding will be used to treat 70,000 patients on waiting lists in 2019; and

- Additional funding for  care redesign and the National Children's Hospital.

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