Sinn Féin spokesperson Health, David Cullinane TD, has said the draft Programme for Government published today on health is vague, reads as a long list of measures previously promised and not delivered, lacks vision and crucially lacks the funding and efficiencies needed to drive reform.

Teachta Cullinane said:

“This Programme for Government is vague, lacks substance and is without credibility. It is not a serious plan and it lacks specifics, commits to endless reviews and considerations and is a rinse and repeat of measures previously committed to and not delivered.

“It stands in stark contrast to Sinn Féin’s Health Plan which is detailed, costed, and transformative.

“The Programme for Government commits to ensuring adequate and safe staffing and increasing training places with no specifics and no time-frames. The Sinn Féin plan provides for a doubling of training places, legislating for safe staffing levels and a doubling of training places over five years.

“In a section cutting costs for patients it gets worse. It commits to expanding Free GP places for all children to at least 12 years old despite legislating for this years ago and not delivering. The Programme for Government commits to considering further reductions in the Drugs Payment Scheme and seeks to further increase medical card income limits.

“This is laughable if it was not so serious. Considering cutting costs stands in stark contrast to Sinn Féin’s plan to provide free prescription medicines for all and full medical cards for all those who currently hold a free GP card.

“On the big reforms it is even more vague. It has no target to reduce wasteful spending, no specifics or costings on how to digitise the health service and no substance on increasing capacity. It talks about providing more community beds but without a number of how many and when.

“The Sinn Féin plan provided for €15bn capital expenditure to fully digitise our health service, move away from the pen and paper system, achieve at least €1bn in health spending savings and deliver 2,000 community beds.

“This will clearly be a government without the political will or plan to deliver. Our health services needs investment in capacity and a plan to eliminate wasteful spending. This Programme for Government will deliver neither.”