Róisín Shortall TD, co-leader of the Social Democrats, and Niall Ó Tuathail, Social Democrats Galway representative, and health reform advisor to the NHS, will address a public meeting on the future of healthcare services in the State tonight (Thursday ).
The meeting, which takes place on this evening in The Harbour Hotel at 7.30pm, will see Dep Shortall, who initiated and chaired the Oireachtas Committee on the Future of Healthcare, outline Sláintecare, the cross-party plan for the health service. Mr Ó Tuathail will talk about what Sláintecare might mean for Galway and what can be learned from the experiences of other countries.
There will also be a panel of local healthcare staff and patients to give their perspective on what needs to be done as well as opportunities for the audience to ask questions.
“Despite having some of the most talented and hardworking frontline staff in the world, and one of the biggest budgets per person in the world for health, Ireland has struggled to do what most developed countries have been able to do – provide a decent public health service where everyone is taken care of safely, quickly, and affordably,” said Mr Ó Tuathail. “Our population is growing and ageing, we are struggling to hire enough staff to fill hospital rotas and GP clinics even when the money is there, and we do not have enough services outside of hospital and closer to home. I would like to invite Galwegians who are interested in healthcare to this event.”
