Fine Gael candidate in Dun Laoghaire, Mary Mitchell O’Connor says the party’s new €2 billion Plan for Health will benefit everyone in Dun Laoghaire.

“This plan, which is being launched by An Taoiseach, Enda Kenny and Minister for Health, Leo Varadkar today, is built on four pillars: Healthy Ireland, Building Capacity, Universal Healthcare, and Health Service Reform.

“Fine Gael will continue rebuilding our health service here in Dun Laoghaire.  Our plan requires both further investment and further reform. It’s only by Keeping the Recovery Going and the economy strong that we’ll be able to generate the revenue that we need to invest in public services like health here in Dun Laoghaire and ensure that patients are always the absolute priority.

“The plan allocates €2 billion extra to health over the lifetime of the next government. It sets realistic targets for incremental improvements in our public health service in Dun Laoghaire and around the country, investing in new infrastructure and technology and hiring 4,400 new frontline staff, taking at least one big step every year towards Universal Healthcare, and formally setting up Hospital Trusts and Community Healthcare Trusts. In the last five years we showed that even in tough times, real progress could be made in key areas. We intend to build on that over the next five years.

Highlights include:

• Extending free GP care to all children in Dun Laoghaire
• New programmes to manage common chronic diseases in the community
• A full medical card for all children in Dun Laoghaire on Domiciliary Care Allowance
• A dedicated fund of €50 million a year to reduce waiting lists
• Measuring and improving patient experience times in Emergency Departments
• A tax on sugar sweetened drinks
• Further measures to reduce smoking
• Implementing Healthy Ireland initiatives to improve the nation’s health
• Investing at least a further €750 million in primary care
• A detailed five year budget for the health service will be set out in 2017
• 100 extra GP training places
• Providing faster access to mental health services in Dun Laoghaire
• Continued increase in acute hospital beds
• A new programme to help more people with disabilities to work
• A new dental benefits package
• Dismantling the HSE and establishing Hospital Trusts and Community Healthcare Trusts on a statutory basis

“The Government has allocated €3 billion to the capital budget for health for the next six years allowing us to proceed with major flagship projects like the new national children’s hospital, primary care centres all over the country, an ambitious programme to replace or upgrade community nursing units to comply with HIQA standards, and much-needed investment in IT.

“Fine Gael inherited a health service in freefall – funding cuts of €2 billion, thousands of staff gone, and 1,245 hospital beds closed. Because of the economic recovery in the last two years, we have been able to start rebuilding the health service here in Dun Laoghaire. We have increased the budget by €900 million in the last two years, excluding supplementaries. That is a €300 million increase this year, on top of a €600 million increase last year. We reversed the previous Government’s policy of cutting 1,245 beds by adding 300 new beds in the last 12 months.

“We have taken on more staff, including record numbers of consultants, doctors, midwives and therapists. We have taken the first steps towards Universal Healthcare by introducing free GP care for the youngest and oldest in Dun Laoghaire – those who need to see their doctor the most.

“Economic recovery isn’t only about more jobs and more money in our pockets, it’s also about better public services for everyone in Dun Laoghaire and we have a plan to do that in health.”

Ends

* Note to Editors:

The four pillars of the Fine Gael Plan for Health

Healthy Ireland

We need to improve our health as a society and as individuals. It’s the only way in the long term that we can reduce the burden of disease, ensure that people live longer and healthier lives, and control the cost of healthcare. Healthy Ireland is the Government-led initiative to enable people to make the right decisions about their own health. This includes further actions to reduce smoking, cut back on alcohol consumption and binge drinking, tackle obesity, implement the National Physical Activity Plan, extend the vaccination programme to include Meningitis B and the rotavirus, and extend screening programmes where evidence-based and cost-effective. Among the newest measures will be a tax on sugar sweetened drinks.

Building health service capacity

Fine Gael is committing to increase the health budget by an average of €400 million a year, which means the health budget in 2021 will be at least €2 billion higher than it is now. Budget 2017 will set out a detailed five year budget for the health service, providing financial certainty and allowing for better planning and long term decision making. We will hire 4,400 frontline staff including 600 consultants, dentists and specialists, 2,800 nurses and midwives, and 1,000 health and social care professionals (physiotherapists, occupational therapists, paramedics and radiographers). We will increase the number of GP training places by around 100 over the next five years. We will provide a dedicated fund of €50 million a year to reduce waiting lists. We will conduct a full hospital bed capacity review to be completed by 2017 to provide a strong evidence base from which to plan for increasing bed capacity in the context of the capital review in 2018.

We will improve patient experience in our emergency departments by ensuring that between 93% and 95% of patients spend no longer than six hours in an ED from the time they check in at reception, to the point at which they are discharged. Currently 68% of patients spend less than six hours in an ED. We will improve this by 5% a year and publish the figures on a monthly basis.

The next steps to Universal Healthcare

We will take at least one big step every year towards UHC. The first big step was taken last year with free GP care for the under sixes and over 70s. This shall include but will not be limited to: free GP for the under-12s, the remaining under-18s, comprehensive management of chronic disease in general practice, reduced prescription charges for medical card holders and everyone else, and a dental and oral health package. We will target the most common chronic diseases such as diabetes, COPD and heart failure with a view to managing them in the community rather than hospitals, where clinically appropriate. The dental package will include the restoration of PRSI-related dental benefits which were scrapped by the last government, including a children’s dental health programme, and a preventative oral health package for medical card holders. We will extend full medical cards for all children in receipt of the Domiciliary Care Allowance who don’t already have one. We will expand the role of community pharmacy.

Reforming the health service

We will complete the break-up of the HSE by establishing the hospital trusts and community healthcare trusts on a statutory basis, with their executives reporting to their own boards. The HSE will evolve into a Health Commission with specific national functions including shared services and the National Clinical Programmes, the National Ambulance Service, HSE Estates and Health & Wellbeing. We will complete the major financial reforms already underway including Activity Based Funding.

Other priorities

The public health service will be funded from taxation – as it is now – for the duration of the next government. However, further research will be conducted on other funding models and the ESRI will conclude its research into the various forms of Universal Health Insurance. We will publish a plan for faster access to comprehensive mental health services and improved mental health status, building on A Vision for Change. The Departments of Health and Social Protection will pursue a “Fit for Work Programme” to support more people to get back to work if they have an illness or disability. We will legislate for family consent and an opt-out register for organ donation, and establish an expert group to report within six months on a better way to deal with compensation claims for catastrophic injuries. We will set up an independent Patient Advocacy Service, legislate to support Open Disclosure and expand the role of HIQA to include the licensing of hospitals.

Note: the €2 billion allocation excludes pay restoration or pay increases which are negotiated centrally for the public service as a whole.

Fine Gael TD in Dun Laoghaire Mary Mitchell O’Connor has highlighted Fine Gael’s plans to support older people in Dun Laoghaire and ensure that older years are better years.  The plan will safeguard and improve State entitlements for older people, and will provide enhanced supports for older people to live independently in their homes amongst their own communities in Dun Laoghaire.

“Fine Gael has a Long Term Economic Plan to keep the recovery going in Dun Laoghaire with three connected steps: more and better jobs; making work pay; and investment in better services.

“Today we are focusing on services to support older people. We plan to ensure that older years are better years. Our package of measures for older people is worth €870 million, and is the second largest commitment in our Long Term Economic Plan after the abolition of USC.

“Fine Gael wants Ireland to be one of the best countries in the world in which to grow old. We can achieve this if we keep the recovery going and create the resources to support better public services.

“There are five key elements to our plan to support Dun Laoghaire’s aging population:

• Older people can be confident that State entitlements will be safeguarded and improved as the economic recovery continues. This includes their medical card; free travel; an increase of €25 in the State Pension by 2021; an extra €5 for the Living Alone Allowance by 2021; and a cap on the prescription charge at €17.50, which represents a 30% reduction.
• Enhanced supports for older people will allow them to live independently in their homes for longer. These include 2.2 million more home help hours and increases in housing adaption grants and senior alert grants.
• More care will be provided in the community which will benefit older people. This includes building more primary care centres; providing additional front line staff in the health system; and ensuring that chronic conditions can be cared for closer to home.
• The Fair Deal Scheme waiting list will be kept to four weeks for those who need residential care.
• Finally, older people can be confident that their voice will be heard. We will establish a Citizens’ Assembly to discuss and plan for the needs of our ageing population.

“In 2007, Fianna Fáil promised to increase the State pension to €300. Instead they presided over a catastrophic economic crash and decided to cut the Christmas bonus, a move that really affected vulnerable older people.

“By contrast, Fine Gael’s Long Term Economic Plan to keep the recovery going will ensure that older years are better years, as we spread the benefits of the recovery to everyone and ensure that older people across Dun Laoghaire can experience meaningful improvements to their quality of life.”

Fine Gael TD for Dun Laoghaire, Mary Mitchell O’Connor, has said that increasing the threshold for Inheritance Tax, as planned by Fine Gael, will come as a relief to thousands of family in Dun Laoghaire and the greater Dublin area.

“The Minister for Finance, Michael Noonan, today (Sunday) outlined Fine Gael’s plan to increase the inheritance tax threshold from €280,000 to €500,000 over the lifetime of the next government.

“This will mean that the majority of families living in modest homes will no longer be burdened with massive tax bills when they inherit family homes.

“For some time I have been highlighting what I felt to be the extremely unfair rates of inheritance tax affecting ordinary families and I very much welcome the news that, under Fine Gael, the threshold  will increase.

“It is thanks to our recovering economy that we can cut taxes and improve services all over the country. Fine Gael has a long term economic plan designed to keep the recovery going which will ensure we can continue to make these kinds of investments.

“The plan has three steps: more and better jobs, making work pay more than welfare, and investment in better public services, which will only be possible as a result of the increased revenue generated by creating more jobs. This plan will ensure that more people feel the benefits of a recovering economy in their own lives.”