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HSE Reviews

Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 23 July 2020

Thursday, 23 July 2020

Ceisteanna (244, 247)

David Cullinane

Ceist:

244. Deputy David Cullinane asked the Minister for Health the progress made in the HSE directorate becoming a more strategic national centre; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17838/20]

Amharc ar fhreagra

David Cullinane

Ceist:

247. Deputy David Cullinane asked the Minister for Health the progress made in establishing HSE regional bodies; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17841/20]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí scríofa

I propose to take Questions Nos. 244 and 247 together.

A clear governance and accountability framework was identified as a key building block of Sláintecare by the Committee on the Future of Healthcare. As part of its recommendations in this area, the Committee called for the HSE to become a more strategic and patient-focused ‘national centre’ carrying out national level functions, and the establishment of regional bodies with responsibility for the planning and delivery of integrated care at a regional level.

The new Programme for Government, Our Shared Future, recommits to this core Sláintecare recommendation, stating “Enhanced governance and accountability in the health service is a key component of Sláintecare reform. The HSE Board is now in place and we must now bring forward detailed proposals on the six new regional health areas to deliver services for patients locally that are safe, high quality and fairly distributed .”

As agreed, when the new Regional Health Areas geographies were announced last summer, a business plan for the establishment of these health areas was expected to be brought to Government for its approval in 2020.

The intention was that this plan would set out the high-level organisational design for the health system, including: the respective roles, functions, responsibilities and accountabilities of the Department of Health, HSE centre and new regional structures; the relationship between these entities; and the overall legal construct. These proposals should also outline a timeline for the establishment of regional organisations and for any legislative changes required to realise the Sláintecare vision.

Work was underway in my Department and within the HSE to develop these detailed proposals on Regional Health Areas and the HSE “national centre” but understandably this work was paused as a result of COVID-19. This programme of work will be given further consideration in the coming weeks to take account of the Programme for Government commitment and any new considerations relating to COVID-19.

As part of the HSE's work on this, it is now reviewing the HSE Corporate Centre with a view to providing recommendations on a more strategic national centre which will have greater clarity of role and can better complement and support the health services and regions going forward. These changes will also enable greater decision-making to happen at the front line.

It will be important that there is significant engagement with all key stakeholders across the health and social care sector to ensure that any structural changes do not unduly cause disruption and loss of focus on service delivery. This will be even more important now given the challenges facing the health service as a result of COVID-19.

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