Gay Mitchell
Ceist:167 Mr. G. Mitchell asked the Minister for Health and Children the progress that has been made by the National Health Strategy Consultation Forum. [16287/01]
Written Answers. - National Health Strategy Forum.
I am very pleased with the progress made by the National Health Strategy Consultative Forum and its sub-groups. The commitment of individual members of the forum to the task has been excellent.
The forum was established at the beginning of March to provide advice to the steering group responsible for overseeing the development of the new health strategy. The consultative forum is representative of key stakeholders in the health services, including health professionals, management and consumers.
Since its establishment, forum members have met in sub-groups to examine eight key themes identified for the strategy and to report on their findings to the strategy steering group. The themes are eligibility, funding, delivery, systems-human resources, e-health, quality, health promotion-population health, futures and statutory-voluntary interface. The first plenary session of the consultative forum gave members an opportunity to comment on all eight strategy themes and on other issues of concern.
The meeting of the forum was very valuable and raised important issues regarding the development and implementation of the health strategy. It is planned to hold the next plenary session of the consultative forum in early July.