Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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104. To ask the Minister for Health his views on a standalone health board for County Kerry. [33306/20]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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A clear governance and accountability framework was identified as a key building block of Sláintecare by the Committee on the Future of Healthcare. As part of its recommendations in this area, the Committee called for the HSE to become a more strategic and patient-focused ‘national centre’ carrying out national level functions, and the establishment of regional bodies with responsibility for the planning and delivery of integrated care at a regional level. The new Programme for Government, Our Shared Future, recommits to this Sláintecare recommendation, stating “Enhanced governance and accountability in the health service is a key component of Sláintecare reform. The HSE Board is now in place and we must now bring forward detailed proposals on the six new regional health areas to deliver services for patients locally that are safe, high quality and fairly distributed.”

When the new Regional Health Areas geographies were announced last year, Kerry and Cork were incorporated as Area D. As agreed at that time, a business plan for the establishment of these health areas was expected to be brought to Government for its approval in 2020. The intention was that this plan would set out the high-level organisational design for the health system, including: the respective roles, functions, responsibilities and accountabilities of the Department of Health, HSE centre and new regional structures; the relationship between these entities; and the overall legal construct. Work was underway in the Department of Health and the HSE to develop these detailed proposals, in consultation with stakeholders. Understandably, this work was paused as a result of COVID-19. This programme of work will be given further consideration to take account of the Programme for Government commitment and any new considerations relating to COVID-19.