Bernard J. Durkan
Question:162 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Health and Children his plans to improve the delivery of the health services to the general public; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22760/03]
Written Answers. - Health Board Services.
In 2001 I launched the national health strategy Quality and Fairness: A Health System for You. The strategy brought together a wide programme of service evaluations and research and set out for the first time ever, detailed objectives for every element of the health system. It quite deliberately set out to get away from short-term thinking and piecemeal policy making to create a long-term over-arching framework with clear goals, objectives and action points that would guide day to day and year to year decision making over the period of implementation.
The health strategy also recognised the need for significant change in the way in which services are planned, managed and delivered. To further this objective the Government announced the most far reaching health service reform programme in over 30 years on 18 June last. The programme's focus is improved patient care, better value for taxpayers' money and improved health care management. The reform programme is about unblocking pathways to successful implementation of the strategy; removing obstacles to the development of primary care; streamlining the policy and service delivery functions; removing gaps and overlaps in the system and ensuring that the system is delivering everything it should given the level of investment being made.
My Department monitors implementation of the strategy on an ongoing basis and I am happy to report that to date work has commenced on over 75% of the strategy actions. The reform programme is further evidence of the Government's continuing commitment to the implementation of the national health strategy in the long-term.