merrion street

The Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly TD today publishes the ‘Sláintecare Implementation Strategy and Action Plan Progress Report 2021’.

The report sets out progress made against the priorities and actions detailed in the ‘Sláintecare Implementation Strategy and Action Plan 2021 - 2023’ and focuses on two reform programmes: 

• Reform Programme 1: Improving Safe, Timely Access to Care and Promoting Health & Wellbeing    
• Reform Programme 2: Addressing Health Inequalities — towards Universal Healthcare. 

Some of the progress delivered in 2021 include: 

• An additional 42 critical care, 813 acute and 73 sub-acute beds were fully funded and opened in 2020/2021. 
• 147 Primary Care Centres in operation; 9 opened in 2021 and a further 28 are in construction.
• Sláintecare Integration Fund facilitated the testing and evaluation of innovative models of care, 105 out of 123 projects have now been mainstreamed through the HSE. Overall, these projects resulted in 15,370 reduced referrals, 18,914 acute bed days avoided and 8,268 patients off waiting lists. 
• Healthy Age Friendly Homes - an innovative programme, funded by Sláintecare and delivered directly by local government through its Age Friendly Ireland shared service, aims to enable older people to continue living in their homes or in a home best suited to their needs. Over 7 months this programme received 800 referrals, undertook 630 home assessment visits, and progressed 1,295 interventions for older people. 
• GP Access to Diagnostics – The GP Direct Access to Diagnostics scheme went live in January 2021, providing GPs with access to radiology scans through a number of private providers. Over 138,000 radiology scans were delivered in the community in 2021, reducing pressure on the acute hospital services. 
• Approx. 20.5 million hours of home support delivered in 2021 with over 55,000 people receiving the service. This is about 2.9 million (17%) more hours compared to 2020 with increased funding maintained for 2022. 
• The short-term Waiting List Action Plan (September – December 2021) resulted in a 5.4% reduction in overall waiting lists from 760,700 to 720,056, which was in line with the target reduction.  
• In December 2021, the Department of Health and the Department of Housing published the Housing First National Implementation Plan 2022-2026, which will provide housing and health supports for 1,300 long-term homeless people. 
• 49 Community Healthcare Networks (CHNs), 15 specialist teams for Older Persons and 2 Chronic Disease Management teams were established and operationally viable, these are key to enhanced community care.

A new Programme Board chaired by the Secretary-General of the Department of Health and the Chief Executive Officer of the HSE has been established to ensure that responsibility for the implementation of Sláintecare is fully embedded across both the Department and HSE. Reporting directly to the Minister, the Sláintecare Programme Board will ensure enhanced coordination on delivering key priorities for 2022.  

The Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly TD said; “My commitment and the Government’s commitment to reform and Universal Healthcare is clear and unwavering: we want to ensure every patient receives the right quality care, in the right place, at the right time. I had a very productive meeting with Leo Kearns, chair of the Regional Health Advisory (RHA) group, on Monday and look forward to progressing this important structural reform.”

“Targeted investment in areas such as the rollout of structured chronic disease programmes for people with a history of cardiovascular disease, COPD, asthma and type 2 diabetes in general practice (GP), nationwide GP access to diagnostics, additional home supports, additional critical care, acute inpatient and community bed capacity, each contribute to a more accessible, equal and fair health service for all.” 

“Work has commenced on the establishment of a population-based approach to service planning and resource allocation. This will enable us to fund and resource the right kinds of services based on population need and not based on activity alone. Importantly, it will address health inequalities by ensuring that all areas of the population are appropriately represented in how we plan and fund services”

ENDS //