Simon Harris to overhaul hospitals task force

Minister for Health Simon Harris is to overhaul the emergency department task force and set it targets on hospital overcrowding.

In an interview with The Irish Times, Mr Harris said a new approach was needed by the body established in December 2014 to address the problem.

He said good work had been done but the challenges still remained and a new approach was required.

“If you look at the economy and where we implemented an action plan for jobs, we set very clear targets about what we were going to do in relation to job creation, how we are going to measure success, how we aregoing to highlight when we have hit a problem and how we can do better.

“We need to apply that same level of action to the health service, and one of the challenges in the health service is the pressure on our emergency departments.”

The task force was established by the then minister for health Leo Varadkar in late 2014. Mr Harris denied it had become a talking shop but said a clear "to-do list" was needed.

Under the plans measures will be drawn up at the end of a meeting to be implemented within the month.

Primary care

The Minister said: “We can’t just look at acute hospitals. We have to also look at what goes on in primary care, what is going on in social care, and we have to look at what facilities are available in the community to keep people out of hospital in the first place.

“It is important to say at the end of every meeting: ‘Here is what we are going to do and what we are going to achieve by the next meeting, which will take place in a month’s time.’ I want the monthly meetings to be very action-orientated.”

The Minister also confirmed he is to revive the special delivery unit (SDU), a brainchild of former minister for health James Reilly.

Mr Harris said he wanted to evolve the SDU, which was established to tackle waiting lists, into a performance-management unit. It would be given a ring-fenced budget and would use expertise to assist hospitals who were failing to meet their targets.

The Minister said the aim would be be to incentivise good practice and to avoid them falling short.

Mr Harris was appointed Minister for Health by Taoiseach Enda Kenny last month. He had served as minister of state at the Office of Public Works.

The Minister has established a cross-party committee on health to examine a 10-year plan for the service.

Mr Harris said he was determined to address waiting lists and wanted the National Treatment Purchase Fund, which is to be reintroduced by the Government, to introduce its own targets. He said waiting-list initiatives could be implemented and those with certain conditions could be prioritised.

The Fine Gael TD said it would begin on a trial basis with endoscopy, and he would seek clinical advice on how to expand it.

Front-line workers

The Minister also insisted he wanted to hire more than 6,000 new front-line workers over the next five years. More than 12,000 left the health service during the recession and only half of the posts have been restored.

“I will be the first to say while we may have more frontline staff working in our hospitals this year than last year there is still a journey to go,”he said.