‘Callous inertia’ in health reform progress

The Government has been accused of “callous inertia” for the slow rate of progress in implementing its health reform programme, Sláintecare, as 707,000 patients remain on hospital waiting lists.

Despite Health Minister Simon Harris acknowledging that a well-resourced Sláintecare programme office, with an executive director, is a key step towards successful implementation of reform, nobody has yet been hired to fill the top job.

Sláintecare was published more than a year ago and the recruitment process for a Sláintecare chief started six months ago.