Health service reform cannot be piecemeal, patients’ group warns
IPA spokesman Stephen McMahon warned that a repeat of the piecemeal approach to solving problems would make any new restructuring useless.
“If they still carry on with the legacy of piecemeal action then it will affect the overall core actions proposed by this report,” Mr McMahon said. “The old bureaucratic culture would not be able to exist side by side with the radical proposals to be implemented.”
Those concerns are echoed strongly in the findings of the Prospectus report. Warning against a historic piecemeal approach to health policy and reform on the part of successive Irish Governments, the report lays down a challenge to the current administration making it clear the health system will not improve without strong leadership and commitment.
“Implementation of the system priorities together with the structural changes specified in this report will demand conviction and a real determination to make critical choices and engage in real reform. Leadership must be clear, firm and sustained. Taking a less difficult route may ultimately dilute the desired result and perpetuate the fragmentation of critical functions,” the report reads.
It also proposes a radical structural shake-up, abolishing the 11 health boards and the Eastern Regional Health Authority (ERHA) and replacing them with a new Health Services Executive.
The HSE would take over many functions currently controlled by the Department of Finance and control hospitals through a National Hospitals Office as well as managing primary, community and long-term health services.
