Government urged to publish Sláintecare implementation plan

The Alliance is holding a press conference tomorrow to coincide with the one-year anniversary of the publication of the report. It said Ireland now has a detailed roadmap to achieve universal, publicly-funded healthcare “but it is being held back by stasis in its implementation”.

Ms Kathryn Reilly, Co-Chair of the Health Reform Alliance, said: “Sláintecare is single long-term vision for health and social care in Ireland, but at the moment it is just a vision. That is why, a year on from publication of Sláintecare we are calling on Government to publish its implementation plan without delay, and to ensure the necessary funding is made available on a multi-annual basis.”

“Delays in implementation of the report can only serve to sow doubt, when urgency is needed to make universal healthcare a reality.

“Universal healthcare will not happen overnight, but it can be achieved with adequate planning and support from all stakeholders, including the Government. The Government, particularly the Taoiseach, needs to take the lead in implementing the wide-ranging reform set out in the Sláintecare Report.”

Mr Paul Gordon, Co-Chair of the Health Reform Alliance, said: “To date, progress on Sláintecare has been piecemeal. While some additional funding was made available in Budget 2018 towards the delivery of Sláintecare and important pieces of work such as the capacity review have taken place, without an implementation plan, we haven’t yet seen the kind of joined-up approach to delivering universal healthcare that’s needed to redefine our health services.

“Sláintecare has been all but held back a year. This state of arrested development cannot be allowed to persist. The cross-party political consensus on a single long-term vision for health and social care in Ireland exists, now it needs to be backed up by the political will to achieve it.”

The Oireachtas Committee on the Future of Healthcare, which was established by the Dáil in 2016 with a remit to achieve cross-party consensus on a single long-term vision of healthcare and health policy in Ireland, published its <em>Sláintecare Repor</em>t one year ago. The report sets out a number of recommendations and proposals that will radically change the face of health and social care in the next ten years.

In a statement on the delay in implementing Slaintecare, Prof Mary Horgan, RCPI President said that the Government needs to prioritise healthcare and move forward with their commitment to change.