Sinn Féin spokesperson on Health David Cullinane TD has said that the new Minister for Health, Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, must deliver quickly on key election promises such as free HRT, a major expansion of hospital beds, expanding free healthcare, and improving children’s health services across the state.
Deputy Cullinane said that the lack of budget discipline and strategic investment has been a major failure under previous Ministers and that the new Minister should act quickly to stop waste of taxpayers’ money.
The TD for Waterford congratulated Minister Carroll MacNeill on her appointment and wished her well in the role, saying that her performance as Minister has a direct impact on the lives of hundreds of thousands of people every day, including health and social care workers, and that she has a huge responsibility to deliver for them.
Teachta Cullinane said:
“The health service has been a disaster under successive Fine Gael governments. Healthcare reform has been snail’s pace, and the trolley crisis has been normalised as a daily occurrence. Overcrowding in our hospitals is far worse than when Fine Gael first entered Government. The challenge for the new Minister for Health is to match rhetoric and promises with real delivery on overcrowding, waiting lists, and reform.
“One of the biggest tests of the new Minister, along with hospital waiting lists and overcrowding, will be her ability to get on top of the runaway health budget. Significant investment is needed to fix the health service, as outlined in Sinn Féin’s health plan, but it can only be financed properly if there is a serious step-change in getting savings and efficiencies from within the health budget alongside targeted investment. The lack of budget discipline and strategic investment has been a major failure under Fine Gael.
“I congratulate Minister Carroll MacNeill on her appointment and wish her well in the role. It is in all of our interests that she does well. The lives of hundreds of thousands of people will be directly impacted every day by her performance as Minister, including patients and health and social care workers. She has a huge responsibility to deliver for them.
“Minister Carroll MacNeill must take control of the reform agenda and go beyond the vague commitments of the Programme for Government. She must re-commit to delivering a single tier public health service, with universal free-at-the-point-of-use access.
“The Minister must quickly deliver on key election promises such as free HRT and improving children’s health services. Women were promised free HRT this month, but Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil have failed to match that promise with delivery. The children of Ireland are entitled to a good health service that does not routinely fail them. Children with scoliosis and spina bifida, for example, are one group of children who have been severely failed, and that failure must end. The Minister must also be a champion for children with disabilities – she cannot leave all responsibility for disability services to the Minister for Disability.
“Minister Carroll MacNeill will be the eighth Minister for Health to oversee the new Children’s Hospital saga. The new Children’s Hospital was urgently needed a decade ago. Minister Carroll MacNeill must get in the driving seat and hold the development board and the contractor to account for their failures to stay within their budget and deliver the project on time. She must ensure that Children’s Health Ireland has a ready-to-go plan to open the new hospital as soon as it is finished.
“The crisis in our hospitals will need very significant investment in beds, capacity, and the workforce, as well as reform. Far more doctors, nurses, and allied health and social care professionals, working in local communities across primary care services, are needed. A statutory home support scheme, digital transformation, regional elective hospitals, and workforce planning are also key to fixing our hospitals and must be part of a joined-up strategy.”
