Pádraig Rice (Cork South-Central, Social Democrats)
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2903. To ask the Minister for Health the steps she is taking to reduce cardiac rehabilitation programme waiting lists, which can reduce death from heart disease by at least 20%; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [42588/25]

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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The Government is actively working to enhance cardiac rehabilitation by addressing existing challenges through several key initiatives. These include increasing staffing levels, integrating community-based care, standardising services, and expanding digital pathways to improve accessibility. Together, these efforts are thoughtfully designed to minimise delays and ensure timely access to cardiac rehabilitation services nationwide.

The Model of Care for Integrated Cardiac Rehabilitation, launched in October 2023, provides evidence-based, patient-centred guidelines to ensure that those living with cardiovascular disease across the country have equitable and timely access to high quality cardiac rehabilitation care, no matter where they live.

The recent Report ‘Overview of Cardiac Rehabilitation Services in Ireland’ published in May, outlines current services and identifies areas where additional resources are required to enhance access to cardiac rehabilitation. The HSE’s Enhanced Community Care Programme has provided significant additional resources to support existing hospital and community-based cardiac rehabilitation services.

The National Review of Cardiac Services (NRCS) recommends that all patients, following a cardiac event, or those diagnosed with Heart Failure, should be offered and have access to an appropriate cardiac rehabilitation programme. An implementation plan for the NRCS is currently being progressed by the HSE.

Funding has been provided through the HSE National Service Plan 2025 to support implementation and evaluation of the Model of Care for Integrated Cardiac Rehabilitation in two Integrated Health Area (IHA) regions in HSE West and Northwest. It will address critical gaps in cardiac rehabilitation teams in two Integrated Health Areas (IHAs), IHA Galway-Roscommon and IHA Mayo, by recruiting additional posts to convene complete integrated cardiac rehabilitation teams, and subsequently enabling these teams to deliver and evaluate an end-to-end implementation of the Model of Care. Thirteen new posts have been funded across four hospitals and three hubs in the region. These posts are currently in recruitment, with four posts having been appointed and accepted, as of mid-June 2024. Learnings from this initial implementation will be shared across all six health regions to inform future services.

The NRCS report provides the data and roadmap for a once-in-a-generation reform of cardiac services, and we are ambitious to progress this important work. The HSE are developing an implementation plan. Publication of the Review and the development of the implementation plan will be key facilitators of our new national cardiovascular strategy as promised in the Programme for Government. Any future development in cardiac rehabilitation services will be informed by the implementation plan of NRCS and subject to the usual estimates process.