Stephen Donnelly: First I knew of Sláintecare frustrations was at resignations
“Neither Tom nor Laura raised their frustrations with me, the first I knew of that frustration was their resignations,” Mr Donnelly said. Photo: Gareth Chaney / Collins Photos
The Minister for Health has said that no issues were raised with him regarding the implementation of Sláintecare prior to the resignation of a number of key officials in recent weeks.
Addressing the Oireachtas Health Committee Stephen Donnelly said that the first he knew of the frustrations of Laura Magahy and Professor Tom Keane was when they resigned.
The duo are two among six senior Sláintecare implementation figures who have resigned in the past two months. In tendering his own resignation Professor Keane stated that he was not willing to continue in his role without the political support necessary to achieve the reforms necessary.
“Neither Tom nor Laura raised their frustrations with me, the first I knew of that frustration was their resignations,” Mr Donnelly said.
Asked if his officials had advised him of any issues with the implementation of Sláintecare, the minister said: “I received no such advice”.
It emerged last month however that secretary general of the Department of Health Robert Watt, who was also in attendance at the committee, had known about the pending resignation of Laura Magahy a week before she actually left.
Mr Watt stated at committee that there were no differences of opinion between himself and the resigned board members about the topic of regionalisation, one of the three facets of Sláintecare together with eHealth and waiting lists which it has been acknowledged are proving a “challenge” to reform. He replied: “No.”
“I haven’t said there’s nothing to see here,” Mr Watt said. “There wasn’t an issue in terms of policy, there might have been issues in terms of implementation.”
Mr Donnelly, questioned as to why Mr Watt and head of the HSE Paul Reid are set to take over responsibility for the implementation of Sláintecare rather than patient advocates, said that “change has to be owned by the people in the system itself.”
“This is why the most senior people will be responsible, so that the system will be fully on board with the coming change, if we’re going to do this right,” he said.
Mr Watt said that “context is the first casualty in political debate now it seems”. He said that 90% of his time since taking over as secretary general in February has been spent on Covid policy, but that is set to change now that the pandemic appears to be receding, with Sláintecare to now come to the fore.
He denied there is any institutional resistance to Sláintecare - the implementation of a single-tier healthcare system - in the Department of Health.
“There is none whatsoever. There was a healthy debate over timelines, but the worst thing is to not have any differences, or to have differences and not air them,” he said.
He said that the Sláintecare officials who resigned “are not the only people”, and described HSE CEO Mr Reid as “one of the most impressive people we’ve ever produced”.
Regarding the perceived popular perception that there is a lack of accountability in Ireland’s public service, Mr Watt said: “People have watched too much Yes Minister.”
“The idea of civil servants who run around resisting change, it’s a bit old,” he said. “It’s a 40-year-old impression."
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