Six years after the formation of the HSE the difference in responsibilities of the executive and the Department of Health still remain unclear, according to Senator John Paul Phelan.
The senator told Minister for State at the Department of Defence, John Curran, that he was not impressed with the HSE and the Department of Health and Children after reading a recent Government review of their operations.
“It is remarkable that six years after the foundation of the HSE, this report must spell out grey areas that exist between the role and function of the HSE and the Department of Health and Children,” said the Fine Gael senator.
The recently published second report of the Organisational Review Programme uncovered various underlying problems affecting the department since the HSE came into existence. The department has not made clear the particular functions of the HSE, according to the report.
“I cannot get my head around the fact that we are still criticising the lack of demarcation between the Department of Health and Children and the HSE. The department deals with many agencies, but six years after the foundation of the HSE, there is still no clear delineation between the department and the executive and that is not acceptable. If that happened in the private sector, it would not be entertained,” Senator Phelan added.
The report called for a major reformation to take place within the HSE. “To do this, it needs to become stronger at goal setting, measuring outputs and outcomes, and managing performance so as to ensure the implementation of its policies,” said the second report of the Organisational Review Programme.
At the start of the McCarthy report, its author admitted that big improvements have been made in the dealings of agencies with the public. “I welcome the fact that those departments and agencies have transformed themselves over the last few years.
“There are significant issues, however, particularly in the Department of Health and Children, which have not been rectified. A job remains to be done there and I hope the Government has the bottle to do it over the next few months,” Senator Phelan concluded.
