Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 15 July 2021
405. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Health the degree to which discussions continue to take place with general practitioners and consultants in regard to the implementation of Sláintecare; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32808/21]
View answerIn November 2019, the ICGP invited the Sláintecare Programme to establish a joint committee to share and promote strategic ideas for the future development of General Practice in Ireland which will deliver the right care in the right place at the right time. Throughout 2020, there was significant engagement with General Practice in reshaping service models in a COVID-19 context. A Chronic Disease Management (CDM) Programme, having regard for COVID-19, was developed in conjunction with the IMO and the Department of Health. A Research Hub, in collaboration with The Irish College of General Practitioners, HSE and Department of Health, was established to address key requirements to drive forward improvements on capacity and supports to general practice.
The Sláintecare Implementation Strategy & Action Plan 2021-2023 was agreed by Government in May this year. GPs will continue to have an important role in its implementation. The Enhanced Community Care workstream of Project 1: Implement the Health Service Capacity Review (2018) promotes the shift of care out of acute hospitals into the community and closer to a person’s home, where safely possible. The ECC workstream will ensure maximum impact for citizens in avoiding hospital admission as far as possible through initiatives that will see care delivered within the community, at or near a person’s home where appropriate. These initiatives include chronic disease management by GPs and direct GP referral to community radiology.
Project 3: Streamline Care Pathways from Prevention to Discharge focusses on the development of integrated care pathways that are based on delivering the best outcomes for patients can help to drive streamlined integration between care settings at a national, regional and local level. Pathways will be agreed between GPs, primary/community care providers, community specialist teams and hospital-based specialists can provide better links across these care settings and will ensure that resources are used to provide the best care for patients and that services are provided in a more timely way.
The implementation of the new Public Only Consultant Contract will be the first step along the road to public-only care in public healthcare facilities.
The draft Consultant Contract was forwarded to the representative bodies for hospital consultants on 31 May for consideration. The Department of Health and the Health Service Executive have met with, and written to, the Representative Bodies to express their willingness and openness to engage on the draft Contract, in line with the relevant government decisions. The responses from the representative bodies to an invitation to engage on the contract are under consideration by the Department.
It is expected the contract will be finalised and introduced within the healthcare system as soon as engagement has concluded.
