Independent review on private care in public hospitals to be discussed at Oireachtas Health Committee

Chair of the Independent Review Group, Dr. Donal de Buitléir and Dr Conor Keegan, ESRI will discuss the Independent Review Group report with TDs and Senators at the first session of the meeting.

Laura Magahy, Head of Sláintecare Implementation Office will give an update on the Sláintecare Implementation Strategy in the second part of tomorrow’s Committee meeting.

Chair of the Joint Health Committee meeting, Dr Michael Harty said: “The report of the Independent Review Group gives the State a roadmap to ending private practice in public hospitals. The meeting will provide an opportunity to look at the practical steps that need to be taken to achieve that end and part of that will be addressing workforce planning issues so that the public system can begin to address waiting lists. We will also discuss the payment structures that are needed so that consultants move over to purely public service contracts”

On Sláintecare implementation, Dr Harty outlined that the Committee will want to establish the extent to which progress is being made in caring for people in the community rather than in hospital settings. "That can only happen if resources are invested in primary care and this issue has now been referred to the Sláintecare office to devise a workforce plan. The Committee will also be asking about how we improve access to diagnostics, both on a seven day basis and through direct referrals from GPs," Dr Harty said.

Proceedings can be viewed live here.