Questions around staffing were kicked down the road on Thursday as the plan was launched, with the focus placed firmly on the additional resources to be made available. It is clear, too, that long-running talks with the private hospitals are continuing on the provision of surge capacity during the pandemic, and the diversion of long-waiting patients off public waiting lists and into private facilities.
About half the headline figure of 1,500 new beds are already in place in one form or another, but this should still amount to the biggest leap forward in terms of capacity for many years. And in providing more care in the community, be it home help or diagnostics for GPs, it represents another move in the direction of Sláintecare, the roadmap for the health service future agreed by all political parties some years ago.
The increase in home help hours is particularly striking, and welcome, though again it is not clear where the extra staff will come from.This year’s plan is a slim 30-page document compared to the plans of previous years, and thus lacking in the level of detail previously provided. Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly was honest enough on Thursday to admit that despite promises in the plan to process thousands of extra procedures waiting lists could end up longer next spring, rather than shorter. He also stated bluntly that the parts of the service are not operating “at full whack”, despite the protestations of some, and these needed to change.
Riding the twin horses of beating Covid and reforming the health service is going to be a difficult trick for a new Minister to pull off, given the unpredictability of the situation. A bit of luck – a mild winter, low flu rates – might help. Here’s hoping.
Can't trust them to be honest.
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