Health and social services for people living at home are to get a bigger share of Government spending in the future, the Minister for Health and Children pledged yesterday.
Half the £2 billion earmarked for building and equipment in the health sector under the National Development Plan will go to non-hospital services such as community care for older people, residential units for children in care, and community nursing units, Mr Martin told a press conference. Traditionally the hospitals have taken about 70 per cent of capital spending.
One mechanism will be the appointment of a manager to each of the 10 health boards "to ensure projects are properly managed" and to deliver a 50/50 split in spending between hospital and non-hospital projects. A national monitoring team will oversee how the money is spent.
About £200 million has been earmarked for services for older people and may be increased when a new strategy is developed.
The money will also be used to eliminate waiting lists for residential and day places for people with learning disabilities and mental handicaps within three years, he said. He also pledged to eliminate waiting lists for people with physical and sensory disabilities (the latter would include people who are deaf or blind).
Of the £2 billion, about 40 per cent will be spent in Dublin, Kildare and Wicklow - the Eastern Regional Health Authority area.
Annual spending from the £2 billion will range from £231 million this year to £310 million in 2006, the final year. Mr Martin expressed confidence that the amounts will increase in line with inflation during the life of the plan.
Hospitals will benefit both from the building of new facilities and from a major re-equipping programme. This year £90 million will be spent on re-equipping hospitals, compared with £16 million last year.
The number of people on the waiting lists for health services has fallen in recent months, the Minister suggested. "Indications are in the positive," he said of new waiting list figures which he expects to announce next week.
He repeated a pledge to cut the hospital wait for adults to a year and for children to six months. "We are not going to wait seven years to achieve that target," he added.
He said he was awaiting proposals from the health boards on how they intended to cut waiting lists in their areas.
pomorain@irish-times.ie