INO: We need a reversal of health cutbacks

Health Minister Micheal Martin is due to meet health service trade unions today in an effort to win support for his health reform plans.

However, both IMPACT and the Irish Nurses Organisation have expressed doubt about whether it would really improve hospital services.

INO spokesman Liam Doran said: "This reform is only one aspect. We also need the other report published as quickly as possible about medical manpower and hospital services and we also need a reversal of the cutbacks which are currently hitting the health service.

"This reform package, welcome though it is, cannot be used as a smokescreen to take attention away from the need for added investment now and in the future to make the health service truly world-class.

"Reforming administrative structures will not in itself bring improved patient care, but it is a step in the right direction."

IMPACT spokesman Kevin Callinan, meanwhile, said the reform plan would be judged on whether or not it eliminated the two-tier nature of the Irish health services.

"We need to configure our health services in a way that people can get them when they need them and that's not really about the number of health agencies," he said.

"It's about the tough decisions, about taking on the vested interests, it's about making decisions that, where public money is being spent, that the public gets a return for that."