Hospital doctors have generally “welcomed” the move to a more “regional approach” to healthcare organisation, according to Mr Tony Canavan, Regional Executive Officer for HSE West and North-West.
Mr Canavan addressed the ‘Integrated Healthcare: Advancing Health Service Reform’ conference, which took place at the Convention Centre, Dublin, on 5 September. The conference marked six months since the six new health regions became operational.
Speaking to the Medical Independent, Mr Canavan said that doctors appreciated that crucial decisions on care delivery are now being made at the regional level.
Regarding the power and autonomy of the regions, Mr Canavan said the issue is one of “ongoing” interaction and negotiation.
However, he believed that “one of the really important decisions” in this regard was taken recently.
“That was around giving the autonomy back to the regions to decide what posts get replaced and what posts don’t get replaced. I think that is really important.”
Speaking at the conference, Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly said the regionalisation of the HSE would help increase productivity. “Part of productivity is pushing decision-making out to the regions, out to the hospitals,” he said.
The Minister added that “we need local flexibility” and the centralised approach “doesn’t really work for anybody”.
“One of the things I hear from frontline healthcare professionals is, ‘If I want to change something in my community, or I wanted to change something in my hospital 20 years ago, I could have a conversation with the person making the decision. Now there are four layers of people between me and the person making the decision.’”
The Minister stressed the new regions would bring decision-making closer to hospitals and community services.
The HSE remains a single organisation, but with six health regions. The regions are under the governance of the HSE board and the Executive continues to be responsible for standards and guidelines.
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