Pádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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275. To ask the Minister for Health the level of growth required in the health service to remain up to date with demographic changes in Ireland; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30102/24]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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Ireland has a growing population, and it is critical that the health and social care system has the capacity to plan and deliver services that meet the health needs of its population. There are a number of reforms and initiatives underway which seek to address these demographic pressures and the health needs of patients and service users.

The ESRI has been commissioned by the Department of Health to carry out a refresh of the 2018 Capacity Review. Using the ESRI's Hippocrates projection model, the Capacity Review will project future demand and expenditure for three key service areas: 1) Public Acute Hospitals; 2) Primary & Community Care; and 3) Older Persons services. These will be projected out to 2040, at a National and Health Region level. The work on the Capacity Review is currently ongoing with outputs to be published in 2025. The results of the Capacity Review will provide an evidence basis for workforce planning and future healthcare investments.

A key reform in the move towards a population-based approach is the implementation of Health Regions. On 4 March, the HSE was reorganised into six HSE Health Regions, representing one of the most significant reforms to our health and social care services in recent years. The six Health Regions, each led by a Regional Executive Officer (REO), will have responsibility for the planning and coordinated delivery of the vast majority of health and social care services for their respective populations. The six REOs are now in place and are now driving the regional implementation of this reform.

In recognition of the fact that different regions of the country have their own unique demographic challenges and health needs, the Health Regions will take a population-based approach to how they plan, fund and deliver care. This is an approach that was championed by the Sláintecare Report. A population-based resourcing approach (PBRA) was proposed in the March 2023 Irish Government Economic and Evaluation Service (IGEES) Spending Review "Towards Population-Based Funding for Health". In line with international practice, this illustrative approach sets out a capitation funding model which takes account of demographic and non-demographic factors such as age, sex, social deprivation and rurality. Importantly, the results of this illustrative model indicated that there would be no significant change required to the existing levels of service funding in order to establish this population-based approach. The aim of PBRA is therefore to fairly distribute available healthcare funding to regions according to the relative needs of their populations and the cost of providing services to meet those needs.

The Department has established a PBRA Expert Group to further refine this approach, and a multi-year phased implementation is planned. The HSE is also progressing the development of a Health Needs Assessment Framework which will enable services to better understand the needs of their populations at a local and regional level in order to inform how services are planned and delivered.