Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

633. To ask the Minister for Health the status of the Healthy Ireland Strategic Action Plan; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43521/20]

Frank Feighan (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Healthy Ireland, A Framework for Improved Health and Wellbeing 2013-2025, is the national framework for action to improve the health and wellbeing of Ireland.  The Framework is now past the mid-way point for the implementation. 

Since publication in 2013, there has been significant progress in implementation. This has included:

- A focus on building an enabling environment for cross-sectoral and collaborative action, supported by a stakeholder engagement and communications strategy.

- Significant cross government and intersectoral partnerships and working has been created by the Framework.

- A suite of national policies and plans to address risk factors such as obesity, tobacco and physical inactivity have been published, and policy direction across areas such as cancer, maternity care, drugs and mental health has been informed and influenced by Healthy Ireland. 

Notwithstanding the progress to date, there is an urgent need to scale and expand the activity across all strands of the work from Government to local level. To support effective implementation, and to capitalise on further opportunities to involve more sectors in implementation.

In late 2019 the Health and Wellbeing Unit in my Department commenced the development of a Strategic Action Plan for the next phase of the Healthy Ireland Framework.  Despite the challenges caused by Covid-19, which has caused some delays to the original timeline for this process, significant progress on the development of the Strategic Action Plan for Healthy Ireland has been made.  To date the process has already completed a rapid review of previous progress, extensive stakeholder engagement, a desktop review of other jurisdictions for best practice, and a review of goals for alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals and the Programme for Government.  

Presently a set of emerging priorities is being considered in partnership with other Government Departments and internally in the Department of Health.  The Healthy Ireland Strategic Action Plan is expected to be finalised in early 2021, for agreement across Government and subsequent publication.

Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

634. To ask the Minister for Health the details of the rapid review of previous progress of Healthy Ireland that was undertaken by his Department; the details of the extensive stakeholder engagement; the details of the review of goals for alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals and the programme for Government; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43522/20]

Frank Feighan (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

In late 2019 the Health and Wellbeing Unit in my Department commenced the development of a Strategic Action Plan for the next phase of the Healthy Ireland Framework.  Despite the challenges caused by Covid-19, which has caused some delays to the original timeline for this process, significant progress on the development of the Strategic Action Plan for Healthy Ireland has been made. 

A Rapid Review of progress to date on the implementation of Healthy Ireland was firstly conducted with the Health and Wellbeing Unit within the Department.  The Unit have overall responsibility for the implementation of the Healthy Ireland Framework.  The review was conducted against the existing six themes of the Framework, including:

1. Governance and Policy

2. Partnership and Cross-Sectoral Work

3. Empowering People and Communities

4. Health and Health Reform

5. Research and Evidence

6. Monitoring, Reporting and Evaluation

Following the review, feedback on progress to date from the wider stakeholder consultation phase was incorporated.

An extensive stakeholder engagement process on the Healthy Ireland Framework has been conducted by my Department.  This has included three separate processes, one-on-one interviews, workshops and an on-line survey.  Six one-on-one interviews with key leaders were conducted.  Six workshops with stakeholder groups, including: other Government Departments, Community and Voluntary Sector Organisations, Department of Health staff, Health Services Executive staff and Academic institutions were held.  An online survey was completed by 331 respondents from existing partner organisations, including Local Authorities.  The findings of the stakeholder consultation have been incorporated into the development of a draft of the Strategic Action Plan.

The development of the Strategic Action Plan is also taking into account the wider context including the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Programme for Government to ensure appropriate alignment with priorities across the whole of Government.

Presently a set of emerging priorities is being considered in partnership with other Government Departments and internally in the Department of Health.  The Healthy Ireland Strategic Action Plan is expected to be finalised in early 2021, for agreement across Government and subsequent publication.