Social Democrats joint leader R\u00f3is\u00edn Shortall TD has welcomed the announcement that Mr Donal de Buitl\u00e9ir will chair an expert group to examine the impact of separating private practice from the public hospital system, as recommended in the Sl\u00e1intecare health reform plan.<\/p>\n
Deputy Shortall, who chaired the cross-party Oireachtas committee which produced the Sl\u00e1intecare report, said:<\/p>\n
\u201cI very much welcome the announcement this evening by Minister for Health Simon Harris that the cabinet has agreed that Mr de Buitl\u00e9ir will chair an expert group to examine the impact of separating private practice from the public health system.<\/p>\n
\u201cMr de Buitlier brings enormous experience to the role and I look forward to learning more about the terms of reference of the expert group, which must be enabled to carry out its work with full independence in the public interest.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe separation of the public and private health systems is core to the Sl\u00e1intecare vision of a properly functioning national health service that treats everyone promptly and on the basis of medical need, not ability to pay.”<\/p>\n
Deputy Shortall added:<\/p>\n
\u201cI also welcome the Minister\u2019s announcement that the cabinet has agreed to start the ball rolling in relation to two other key recommendations in the Sl\u00e1intecare plan. A public consultation starting next month will examine how better to align community and hospital structures so that greater integration of services can be achieved, as well as better value for money.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe third issue which today\u2019s cabinet meeting made progress on relates to steps to address the weak corporate governance structure of the HSE. This was caused by the last government’s decision to abolish its independent oversight board. It is very reassuring to learn that the Minister plans to bring forward legislation to put in place a new performance and oversight board for the HSE next year.\u201d<\/p>\n
ENDS<\/p>\n
13 October 2017<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Social Democrats joint leader R\u00f3is\u00edn Shortall TD has welcomed the announcement that Mr Donal de Buitl\u00e9ir will chair an expert group to examine the impact of separating private practice from the public hospital system, as recommended in the Sl\u00e1intecare health reform plan. Deputy Shortall, who chaired the cross-party Oireachtas committee which produced the Sl\u00e1intecare report, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,7],"tags":[200,70,104],"class_list":["post-314","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-latest-news","category-press-release","tag-hse-reform","tag-roisin-shortall-td","tag-slaintecare"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n