Committee on the Future of Healthcare to start hearings on long-term strategy for healthcare in Ireland

The schedule for the meeting next week is:

Session A: 9.00 a.m.

Work Force Planning and Health Service Reform;
Dr Stephen Kinsella, University of Limerick

Session B: 11.00 a.m.

The role of IT in Healthcare Reform
Richard Corbridge, Chief Information Officer, HSE

Chair of the Committee, Roisin Shortall, says: “The Oireachtas Committee on the Future of Healthcare is examining potential new models for health care in Ireland, with a remit to achieve cross-party consensus on a ten year strategy for health care and health policy in Ireland. To achieve the Committee’s objectives, we published an Interim Report which lists 12 individual work streams and key issues the Committee believes will be necessary to address in the course of its work.

We understand that there are differing perspectives on how best to address the complex issues involved in devising a long-term strategy for health care in this country. Therefore, the Committee invited submissions from interested parties, the closing date of which was last week. The Committee received a substantial number of high quality submissions from interested representative bodies, individuals and groupings. I would like to thank all stakeholders who made submissions, which the Committee will now review.      

Next week, we will resume our public hearings when we will meet with Dr Stephen Kinsella from the University of Limerick as part of a discussion on workforce planning and healthcare reform. This will be followed by a meeting with Richard Corbridge, Chief Information Officer in the HSE when we will address the important role that IT can play in transforming healthcare systems.  

“As public hearings get underway, all Committee Members recognise that this is a unique opportunity to achieve cross-party consensus in developing a coherent and meaningful healthcare strategy to be implemented over the next ten years. We look forward to meeting this challenge. The driving ambition of the Committee’s work is to devise a model for a universal single tier health service and critically to ensure the implementation of our recommendations.”

This meeting will take place in Committee Room 1, Leinster House. Committee proceedings can be viewed live here.

Committee proceedings can also be viewed on the move, through the Houses of the Oireachtas Smartphone App, available for Apple and Android devices.

ENDS/

Media Enquiries:

Ciaran Brennan,
Houses of the Oireachtas,
Communications Unit,
Leinster House,
Dublin 2

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Committee Membership

Mick Barry        AAA-PBP
John Brassil        Fianna Fáil
James Browne        Fianna Fáil
Pat Buckley        Sinn Féin
Joan Collins        Independents4Change
Jim Daly        Fine Gael
Michael Harty        Rural Independent Group
Billy Kelleher        Fianna Fáil
Alan Kelly        Labour
Josepha Madigan    Fine Gael
Hildegarde Naughton    Fine Gael
Kate O’Connell        Fine Gael
Louise O’Reilly        Sinn Féin
Roisin Shortall (Chair)    Social Democrats/Green Party Technical Group