Government accused of botching health reform

THE Government was last night accused of botching the single biggest health reform of recent years after it confirmed there would be changes to the way the HSE was run.

Following criticism that the HSE has become overly bureaucratic and centralised, the organisation is to reshape its management structure to allow more decisions to be taken locally.

“Essentially, what’s happening here is that many of the decisions which currently require approval at central level are being devolved to the more local level as far as service delivery is concerned,” Health Minister Mary Harney told the Dáil.