Vol. 537 No. 5
360 Mr. Allen asked the Minister for Health and Children if he will make a statement on recent comments by a person (details supplied) that every acute general hospital here should have echocardiography and a physician with appropriate training in cardiology. [17045/01]
The report of the cardiovascular health strategy group – Building Healthier Hearts was launched in July 1999. It showed that our premature death rates from coronary heart disease for men and women are twice the EU average. The Department of Health and Children has set a medium term objective to bring our levels of premature deaths from cardiovascular disease in line with the EU average at a minimum and a long-term objective of reducing our rates to those of the best performers in the EU. Building Healthier Hearts, which contains 211 recommendations, is designed to achieve these goals in a systematic and sustained manner.
As a measure of the Government's commitment to the implementation of this report, structures were put in place at national, regional and local level to drive the implementation process. The structures take into account the need to sustain a co-ordinated programme and a high level of engagement over a long period. These structures include the establishment of a high level heart health task force, an expert advisory forum on cardiovascular health and an inter-divisional working group within my Department. These structures have been further complemented by regional co-ordinating committees under each health board.
Some £12 million was provided to commence the implementation process in 2000. Each of the health boards received a financial allocation of £1 million, with the exception of the Eastern Regional Health Authority which received £3 million. The balance of £2 million was used to implement initiatives at a national level, mainly health promotion initiatives, cardiac technician training and the establishment of the pre hospital care council. At health board level, for 2000, most funding supported the recruitment of additional staff for community, hospital services as well as health promotion.
In 2001, an additional £15 million has been made available for the continued implementation of the strategy. The following priority areas for service development by health boards for 2001 are being advanced. Cardiac rehabilitation has been identified as a priority this year and health boards have identified the recruitment of rehabilitation co-ordinators as a key area for development and phase two of the Ireland needs a change of heart campaign was launched in May 2001. This is a North-South collaboration, focusing on the positive aspects of physical activity; recruitment of hospital staff and development of facilities to treat cardiac patients.
