‘No committment to Sláintecare’
The Government’s Sláintecare action plan has been blasted as “deeply underwhelming” by the woman who chaired the committee that produced the Sláintecare report. Social Democrat TD Róisín Shortall said it took “a special kind of brass neck” to produce “another report on a report on a report”, “but still no proper budget”.
“Today’s wishy-washy report is yet further proof that the Fine Gael Government is not remotely committed to delivering... the kind of universal public health service which this country has lacked for so long,” Ms Shortall said. Sláintecare, the Government blueprint for health reform, produced by the Future of Healthcare Committee, has as its core vision a universal single-tier health service, based on need and not ability to pay.
Fine Gael has been committed to the notion of universal healthcare since taking office in 2011, but a model proposed in 2014 was shelved on cost grounds. The action plan launched yesterday outlines “key milestones” for implementation in 2019, including developing a “roadmap” for universal healthcare.
The 10-year programme, by the Sláintecare Programme Implementation Office, also commits to continued roll-out of electronic health records, and developing a prototype Citizen Health Portal. A National Health Portal launched by then health minister Micheál Martin in 2004 was scrapped after a €2m spend. A Department of Health spokesperson said the portal will give citizens access to personal health information.
Other key actions earmarked for 2019 include: Projects to improve the management of chronic disease and older people’s services so that care can be provided at or close to home; Plan bed and diagnostic capacity to meet the needs of a growing population; Progress the Patient Safety Bill which includes mandatory open disclosure for serious patient safety incidents.
