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THE HEALTH SERVICE is seen as a poison chalice to most politicians, being passed from one minister to the next. But finally, there is cross-party support for a long-term plan on how to ‘fix’ the healthcare system in Ireland.
Today, the Minister for Health, Simon Harris announced the launch of the recruitment process for the Executive Director of the new Sláintecare Programme Office.
After much deliberation, the Oireachtas Committee of Healthcare Reform delivered the Sláintecare report last year – a 10-year plan to transform how healthcare is delivered in this country.
If implemented, it aims to break up the two-tier system, make the public health service more accessible and shift the whole outlook to primary care.
The costs are by no means insignificant with around €5.8 billion earmarked over ten years for capital expenditure and transitional funding.
Top job
In order to drive this reform, which is no mean feat, the government is looking for someone to get the project off the ground and push ahead with the implementation plan.
Harris said the government wants to attract very senior candidates with a strong track record in implementing large-scale programmes of reform.
With the numbers of trolleys hitting record numbers in the last few weeks, there is no illusion that this job, for whoever takes it on, will be easy.
“This will be the largest level of reform ever undertaken in the health sector, if not the public service and it is essential that we get the right person with the right skills and experience,” said the minister, adding:
We are all aware of the challenges of implementing change in our health system. Healthcare delivery is a complex endeavour and we in Ireland are not unique in encountering a variety of challenges.
Establishing a well-resourced Sláintecare Programme Office with an Executive Director and team of a high calibre is a key step towards successful implementation of reform. €1 million has been allocated for the establishment of the Sláintecare Programme Office this year.
The top job is being advertised on the Public Appointments Service (PAS) and it is expected that on foot of this process, a recommendation of who should get the job will be made to the Department of Health before April.
Whoever gets the job will report to the Secretary General of the Department of Health and will be accountable to the Minister for Health.
Sláintecare
Harris said a number of things have been done to begin progress on the Sláintecare report, stating that Donal de Búitléir has been appointed to chair an independent group to examine the impact of removing private practice from public hospitals.
The group commenced its work and launched a public consultation process before Christmas. The group is expected to report back later this year.
In the coming weeks, the minister will also bring a memo to government with the general scheme for a Bill to introduce a governing board for the HSE.
Harris said a consultation process on the future alignment of hospitals groups and community health organisations will commence shortly.
“The government is fully committed to delivering this reform agenda. The development of a Sláintecare implementation plan is now well advanced and I expect to bring this to government for consideration shortly,” he said.
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Step 1: How much middle management and administrative staff can I fire to free up resources for actual doctors and nurses?
@Jeffrey McMahon: step 2: if I am administering the health service, what are we paying that minister for? More savings there for a couple more doctors or nurses.
@Jeffrey McMahon: step 3: said administrative staff are now on social welfare and qualify for all the benefits that come with it including medical cards. Mortgages may fall behind which would add further strain on services but good thinking. Clearly you shouldn’t apply.
@Jeffrey McMahon: You’re right. Fire all the admin staff (the people who maintain and archive your patient charts, who make those charts available for your appointments, who dictate the doctors’ clinical notes, who book the appointments, who register the patients at the clinics), or perhaps the technical staff (who maintain the clinical and ICT equipment that the clinical staff use to do their jobs), or the porters, or the cleaners (who ensure that the environment is safe and free from MRSA, etc), or the management grades who ensure that all of these people and systems are running smoothly so that the clinical staff (doctors, nurses and allied health professionals) can do what they’re being paid to do.
You’re absolutely right. Hospitals should employ only doctors and nurses.
@Brian Lenehan: Intended or not Brian, you’ve just pointed out a massive failure in the HSE. The manual recording and filing of patient details. Because hospitals and GPs don’t have a central database, and as there are no standards as regards make/model of equipment in use hospital by hospital, if records do happen to get transferred, the receiving hospital may have problems using their software to read something in a different software of the other hospital.
@Jeffrey McMahon: If you get rid of admin staff, the medical staff will have more paperwork to do not less.
@Father Hody Commody: Currently there is work being done to centralise all patients files and medical records. It’s a massive undertaking but not as easy to set it up retrospectively.
It will probably take another 3 or 4 years to go live.
There are are standards as regards make/model of equipment in use hospital by hospital. We have accreditation inspections every year to ensure our equipment is checked, calibrated, tested and validated.
None of ye will get that job with those attitudes!!
You need to state that you will increase the number of roles available for middle and upper management with those positions being filled by selected personnel with a particular emphasis on the useless friends, children and family of upper government hierarchy. – you’ll be a shoe in for sure….
@Karl Monaghan: poor Karl worked to the bone for monkey nuts
They should add the caveat that no internal applicants will be considered
Step 1, Make the healthservice about the patients,
Step 2, Make the healthservice not about the Management and admininstration staff.
Step 3, Go to another country that does it right then copy that.
@JustOneScoop: exactly,go to France have a look and copy , apparently it works real well….
“Executive Director of the new Sláintecare Programme Office.”
Oh, dear, another Office. That means a manager at Assistant Secretary Level, so, about €140K salary. Plus, I suppose, a full team, and a new office somewhere.
Surely, this job should be part of the HSE.
A report published last October by the ESRI projected the population would both grow and age substantially in the years to 2030, resulting in a substantially increased demand across all health and social sectors.
The report forecast the number of people aged 65 and over increasing by 60-64 per cent, and the number aged 80 and over rising by 89-94 per cent.
We need more beds, fully staffed. We do not need another “Office”.
Why doesn’t Harris just do the job he’s more than well paid to do. The whole health service needs reform, it’s Harris’s job to make the public health service work to benefit the people who need it.
Just get on with it.
If you can’t do it, get out.
The first thing to do is to is to get rid of the HSE which has been a disaster and a hindrance to
a proper and effective health service in this country.
Best of luck with that !
I suppose if we had competent politicians in the first place, that would be a good start.
It looks like they want to hire someone to make him/her a scapegoat for a job they’re responsible for but incapable of doing themselves.
Our gov is a disgrace. They can’t manage anything. They don’t want to manage anything. All they want to do is collect taxes and take credit for the amount of money in the state coffers.
Slaintecare won’t break up the two tiered system. It’ll reinforce the unfairness of this current system and shift the site of faster access to private hospitals only.
@A McGuckin: I wouldn’t be surprised if you are right, but could you briefly outline a reason or two why this would be the case?
@John Hazelnut: Slaintecare proposes retaining the current system of public vs. private health insurance where your ability to pay not medical need dictates quick access to diagnostics and treatment. The only thing that Slaintecare proposes changing is the site where faster access can now be accessed which will be private hospitals. If anything it’ll reinforce the unfairness in our health system, creating a them and us mentality, and create business opportunities for the expansion of private healthcare.
@A McGuckin: I see. Thank you for explaining :)
Nobody has got what it takes for this job because nobody has the power to stop public sector consultants from working in the private sector. Nobody has the power to remove all private clinics from public health owned lands. The health model created by Mary Harney and her neo-liberal cronies is what is at the heart of the malaise in Irish health services. The people who benefit the most from a chaotic public system are the people who have the most power to ensure that the public system will never get better.
To change the Health Service and make it more efficient will require involvement with Public Service unions, and that alone is a task no government or government minister will take on.
The general public know all too well where this issues are but changes will hurt a lot of people financially, and as we all know that more important any any Health issue.
Basically someone from within the system like Dr O’Connor who wrote a couple of articles on here last week. Not Lord Sugar, Bill Cullen or any other corporate gobsh*te.
Root And branch reform required. Without that money doesn’t matter. No politician brave enough to take on the vested interests. Very useful political weapon as well for opposition of all shades as is homelessness.
Mattress Mick should apply ! He would do a better job sorting the beds than Dr Leo!
Another Tusla.
We need nursing homes so elderly people can be discharged from hospital freeing up beds.
We need more primary care focused health service too.
Make it illegal to smoke for anyone under the age of 18 . Raise the age each yr . Control the sale of tobacco from government control locations . In 30 to 40 yrs time we will have a smoke free country . We can’t expect the health service to pick up the cost for our unhealthy lives .
Plenty of simpletons on here offering simplistic ‘solutions’.
@Padraic Reid: As distinct from your own offerings
We need a lot more beds, nurses and doctors and pay them properly.
Completely privatise health care, issue everyone with a voucher entitlement that will cover the cost of standard health insurance. People can choose which insurer to go by in a free market. The competition will bring down the cost of health care massively and promote innovation in the medical sector. If you can afford it you can subsidise your plan to get you top of the range care.
Before anyone jumps down my neck, I have a life so I haven’t done mountains of research on this. Feel free to critique
@Flip off: In a free market ?such as the motor insurance market lol
@Flip off: have you seen the United States? That’s a horrible idea. You need a government option a single payer system or the government need to be an insurance option to keep private insurance cost low.
I love the move to establish this “mobilisation” team, but it could go either way, depending upon who they hire. A conventional executive will establish management layers and bureaucracy, but an innovative leader may inject the creativity and motivation required to vastly enhance the health service.
Having just availed of significant HSE services for my father, I can see that more doctors and nurses is not the answer. An improved system, technology-enabled and driving cross-functional collaboration is what is necessary. The skills are there, the HSE just doesn’t seem to use them very well!
The UCLA turnaround would be a great example to follow – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZ5u7p-ZNuE.
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