Health watchdog: Overhaul healthcare system which is 'disjointed and reactionary'

The country’s health watchdog has recommended an overhaul of the healthcare system which, it said, is “disjointed and reactionary”.

In its submission to the Oireachtas Committee on the Future of Healthcare, the Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) said the health system needed to provide for better decisions, safer services and improved care for patients.

In the submission, Hiqa said: “In the conduct of our work, we witness at first hand the pressures and challenges facing the Irish health and social care system. These range from familiar demographic and fiscal stresses, to workforce and infrastructural issues.