Paul Reid: Covid-19 has put the HSE in 'a better place'

HSE CEO Paul Reid said the pandemic has brought about a change in the HSE’s approach to perennial problems like waiting lists. Picture: Leon Farrell / Photocall Ireland

The head of the HSE has said that Covid-19 has ironically put the HSE “in a better place” due to the change in focus the disease has necessitated.

Speaking at the Oireachtas Health Committee, chief executive Paul Reid said the pandemic has brought about a change in the HSE’s approach to perennial problems like waiting lists and bed backlogs.

He said that the increased investment “in keeping people at home, will give the hospital system the chance to address its issues”.

“I’m not going to say that these problems will be solved this year or next year, they’re not. But what is required is a continued pathway, which is what we’re on now,” Mr Reid said. 

“I’ve no interest in spinning numbers, I just want to set out the big structural changes that are needed.” 

HSE’s 2020 Winter Plan

The CEO was in attendance at committee to discuss the HSE’s 2020 Winter Plan, which saw an “unprecedented” €600 million in additional funding poured into the health service in order to mitigate the ongoing issues caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

HSE CEO Paul Reid. Picture: Leon Farrell / Photocall Ireland

In his opening statement, Mr Reid had said that the HSE’s core objectives are to avoid congestion in hospitals, resource community services, and to ensure that lines of communication between primary care and the acute system are “seamless”.

Additional priorities include “supporting nursing homes, strengthening public health capacity and minimising the impacts of Covid-19 on our cancer services, including screening”, he said.

Regarding the prospective use of private hospitals, Mr Reid said that the deal done earlier in 2020 to effectively take over those institutions for three months had “saved lives”.

That agreement had come in for a great deal of criticism due to it costing €115 million per month despite the surge capacity usage being largely negligible as the initial wave of Covid subsided.

Mr Reid said that any new deal would be done via a system of mini-tenders in order to provide specific diagnostics and services where needed.

Community Assessment Hubs

He said that the proposed system of Community Assessment Hubs, which follow the same template as Covid hubs set up at the beginning of the pandemic to reduce pressure on hospitals, had received “good buy-in” from GPs via their stated purpose of assessing respiratory illness and “filtering out those who should be in hospital and those who shouldn’t”.

“We have focused on specific initiatives to keep people at home, in terms of integrated teams working with GPs that older people can work with,” Anne O’Connor, chief operating officer, said.

In terms of the flu vaccine, the HSE officials moved to quash suggestions that 600,000 doses of the shot have gone missing.

Dr Colm Henry, chief clinical officer, said that those tests have thus far been distributed, but not administered, while 700,000 shots have been given to people to date.

Dr Colm Henry, Chief Clinical Officer at the HSE. Picture: Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin

He said he couldn’t “legislate for every individual GP and pharmacy”, but said “based upon our strong consistent messaging, I’m reasonably confident that those remaining vaccines are going to those high priority groups”, in reference to those with underlying conditions or the elderly.

In terms of hospital waiting lists, which currently stand at record levels, Liam Woods, director of acute operations, said that “the short term difference has been Covid”.

“Changing the model of care so that people are seen in the community is the way to address these lists,” Mr Woods said.

Regarding the specific issues experienced by the UL Hospitals group, which consistently post some of the worst trolley figures in the State, Mr Woods said that an additional 100 beds will “come into use” by January. He said that there is “also work being done in Nenagh to address additional patient activity”.