Health Bill published amid mounting setbacks
Under the much-anticipated Bill, a new Health Services Executive (HSE) will take over the management of all health services, with four new regional headquarters to be based in Galway city; Cork city; Kells, Co Meath and Tullamore, Co Offaly.
The headquarters will be responsible for all health services in new areas divided into Western, Southern, Dublin/North-East and Dublin/Mid-Leinster areas.
Other measures in the new Bill include a new statutory complaints system and a new system for public representation and input from patients.
The Bill also makes the HSE chief executive accountable for how the budget is spent while funding will come from the Department of Health instead of directly from the Department of Finance.
While an interim HSE chairman - Kevin Kelly - has already been appointed, incoming chief executive Professor Aidan Halligan dramatically pulled out last week, leaving the Government scrambling to find a replacement.
It is now expected that Mr Kelly will be appointed as chief executive today.
Tánaiste and Health Minister Mary Harney has already conceded there is little available time left before Christmas for the Bill to be passed through both Houses of the Oireachtas and has dropped certain sections to allow a more speedy passing through the Dáil.
But events yesterday - including the threat of all-out strike action by 15,000 IMPACT health service managers and complications in completing the Bill for publication - further marred an already shaky beginning for the new measures.
Nevertheless, Ms Harney last night said she was still confident the measures could be passed and implemented by the beginning of next year.
“I believe the issues can be resolved. We must engage with each other and talk with each other, and certainly it’s in all of our interests as citizens of Ireland, and particularly in the interests of patients, that we engage in discussions on the basis of consultation, as I believe we can,” she said.
Fine Gael health spokesman Dr Liam Twomey agreed that the health service was badly in need of reform but criticised the Government’s attempts to rush through its plans.
“We must make sure there is nothing rushed through Dáil Eireann just for the sake of meeting the January 1 deadline,” he said.
Labour health spokesperson Liz McManus called on the Government to defer the January deadline to allow the Bill be debated properly.
“The Minister for Health is rushing out the new Health Bill today and there will be insufficient time for the Dáil to debate the legislation if the HSE is to be up and running by January 1.
“The vote by IMPACT workers to strike because of anxiety over their jobs and working conditions under the new health board structure is now the latest setback for the Government’s proposals,” she said.
