Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 15 December 2020
608. Deputy Alan Kelly asked the Minister for Health the way in which he is monitoring implementation of the winter plan; if he is receiving regular updates; when he last received an update on implementation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43453/20]
View answerThe Government has allocated an unprecedented investment of €600m to support the early roll-out of an ambitious Winter Plan for 2020/2021 which in the context of the COVID 19 pandemic has the potential to be very challenging in terms of delivering unscheduled care. The Winter Plan will, inter alia, see an additional 892 acute beds, 484 sub acute beds, 631 additional rehabilitation beds, 4.7 million additional home support hours, additional community based services and an expanded flu vaccination programme to reduce pressure on hospital emergency departments.
In view of the scale of the investment it is important that implementation of the Plan is monitored and that the outcomes and outputs of the various elements of the plan are reported.
My Department has communicated to the HSE the reporting requirements to allow it to effectively monitor the Plan's implementation. The HSE has put in place a Programme Management Office to manage the implementation of the Plan. To date, the HSE has provided three progress reports, the most recent dated the 10th of December 2020. These reports provide information on 600 sub initiatives across five work streams. My Department continues to engage with the HSE regarding ongoing reporting and monitoring of the implementation of the Winter Plan to reflect information needs form various stakeholders.
