Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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My Department and the Health Service Executive (HSE) are committed to delivering on the recommendations that were made for Public Health in the Crowe Horwath report. The report recognised the very important role that public health medicine plays in the health of our population and in how our health service is managed and delivered.

An agreement was reached with the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) in May of this year that will support the implementation of a fundamentally reformed public health model at a national and regional level which is aligned with international best practice. Under the new model, Consultants in Public Health Medicine (CPHM) will lead appropriately resourced multidisciplinary teams, that include surveillance scientists/epidemiologists, senior medical officers, trained contact tracers, administrative and, crucially, robust operations and management support.

The Consultant-delivered Public Health Model will be implemented by December 2023, with the establishment of 34 consultant posts in the first year and a total of 84 Consultant in Public Health Medicine posts by end December 2023. The phased nature of the implementation will facilitate the completion of a review process to ensure reform is embedded in this Public Health Model throughout the implementation process.

The first step to implementing the reformed model is to recruit the priority posts that have been identified. Recruitment of these posts has already begun and the HSE are expecting to have all 34 Phase 1 posts advertised by end of 2021.