The failure of the Department of Health to make key appointments to drive the Government's promised health service reform programme has been sharply criticised by Prof Niamh Brennan, the author of one of three reports shaping the changes, writes Eithne Donnellan, Health Correspondent.
Prof Brennan told The Irish Times last night she expected key appointments would have been made by now "with a view to them having shoulders to the wheel from September onwards" in relation to reform.
Prof Brennan, who is married to the Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, said when details of the reform package were announced three months ago, it was stated that an implementation steering group, headed by a chairman, would be appointed "shortly".
There was also a promise of the establishment of an interim health service executive.
"We finished our deliberations at the end of January. Our report was presented to the Minister in the third week of March. This is now six months ago and I am disappointed at the delay. I would prefer to see a can do, do it now, make it happen, attitude," she said. "What does the word shortly mean?"
She revealed she telephoned the Department of Health over a week ago to ask what progress was being made, "but nobody has called back".
"I don't particularly mind not being phoned back if there is action taking place behind the scenes but I question the extent that there is."
The Brennan Report on Financial Management in the Health Service made 136 recommendations. Two other reports - the Prospectus report on reforming health structures, including the abolition of health boards, and the Hanly report on medical staffing in the service and the reorganisation of hospital structures - also feed into the reform package. The Hanly report has yet to be published.
Prof Brennan said the appointment of the interim board and of the independent chairman of the implementation committee "are absolutely critical in terms of moving forward the recommendations".
A spokeswoman for the Department of Health reiterated last night that both would be appointed "shortly".
Prof Brennan said: "We have seen in the past reports that have not ended up being implemented, that have gathered dust and all the rest. In the context that both Ministers [the Minister for Health, Mr Martin and Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy\] did seem supportive of our recommendations and very positive about implementing them, I'm wondering why there is so little evidence of activity since June."
Prof Brennan first aired her concerns in an article in this week's Irish Medical News.
The Labour Party health spokeswoman, Ms Liz McManus, said last night it appeared whatever momentum there was for reform now seemed lost as Fianna Fáil became preoccupied with its internal political battle over the smoking issue.
Fine Gael's health spokeswoman, Ms Olivia Mitchell, called on the Minister for Health to show some seriousness about beginning the fundamental reforms of the services recommended in the various Government-commissioned reports "instead of traipsing around the pubs of New York".
Mr Martin is in New York this week to look at the impact of the smoking ban there. "Minister Martin is fond of using phrases like 'biting bullets' and 'grasping nettles'. It is time he stopped talking and took his own advice. It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that he is a Minister treading water in hope of a reshuffle," she said.
Meanwhile, it has emerged that patients are waiting up to seven years for a first appointment with an ear, nose and throat specialist at Waterford Regional Hospital. And it can take up to five years for a first appointment with a consultant in orthopaedics. The South Eastern Health Board acknowledged the waiting times were unacceptable.