Fine Gael commits to reducing the cost of healthcare and enhancing disability services

Fine Gael has today (Tuesday) announced a comprehensive plan to reduce the cost of healthcare and increase capacity and enhance access to disability services.

If re-elected to Government, Fine Gael has pledged to introduce multi-annual budgets giving predictability, enabling better planning, ending the cycle of overspends and improving health outcomes.

Fine Gael will:

• Open new primary care centres and better support our dentists, pharmacists and GPs to deliver more care locally.
• Deliver thousands of new beds, 6 surgical hubs, 4 elective hospitals and hire tens of thousands of new staff increasing capacity to access care more quickly.
• Reduce healthcare costs by providing free GP care to under 18s, cutting the monthly cost of drugs to €50, making contraception free to women over 35 years and abolishing the prescription charge.
• Make cancer care and disability supports priorities for delivery of healthcare, while developing a Women’s Health Programme in general practice.
• Increase capacity and enhance access so that disability services can be delivered in a timelier way. We will do this by increasing the number of college places in vital therapies and increasing the number of therapy posts. Engaging with representative bodies to identify practical recruitment and retention initiatives, including sign up and retention payments for staff in child and adolescent mental health and children’s disability services to address acute needs and positively impact children’s futures.
• Expand residential places, day service places and enhance our respite services.
• Continue to provide funding to access private assessments of need for long wating families and extend this to enable access to therapies and mental health supports.
• Continue to stand up for the needs of older people, and appoint a standalone minister of state, to ensure this remain the case.
• Address the cost of disability by introducing a permanent annual cost of disability payment, beginning at €500 and progressively increasing the weekly Disability Allowance payment to at least €300 over the lifetime of Government.
• Recognise the desire of families to have choices and feel supported when considering care options for their relatives, and publish a national action plan on long term care to ensure we have the right mix of care available, and that access is comprehensive and affordable.
• Introduce a statutory homecare scheme.
• Maintain our focus on addiction and recovery services and publishing a successor to the National Drugs Strategy, expanding community drug services, supporting drug and alcohol taskforces and providing ongoing support for individuals in recovery.

Minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill said: “For people in Ireland to live even longer, happier and healthier lives we need Sláintecare to work. Fine Gael will continue to implement Sláintecare so everyone can access the care they need when they need it. Fine Gael’s proposed multi-annual health funding model will give certainty to patients and to our healthcare professionals.

“This will involve recruiting more healthcare staff, increasing inpatient hospital beds, and publishing multi-annual action plans to drive down waiting times.  New surgical hubs and elective hospitals will provide additional capacity for day case procedures, minor operations, and for outpatient consultations.

“Fine Gael will work to agree a new GP contract to include expanding free GP care for all children under 18. We want more GPs and we will support them to thrive and improve care for their patients.  We will recruit HSE employed GPs to assist with cover and maintain essential doctor led services in local communities.”

Minister Colm Burke said: “Ireland has one of the highest life expectancies in Europe, with significant improvements in mortality rates contributing to this achievement. Fine Gael is committed to protecting these gains by ensuring a renewed focus on preventative health and continuing to increase care in the community so that we continue to live longer, healthier lives.

“As part of our approach, we will appoint a Commissioner for Positive Aging, expand screening programmes and invest in our GPs, pharmacists and dentists. We will continue to stand up for the needs of older people, and appoint a standalone minister of state, to ensure this remain the case.”

Senator Nikki Bradley, Fine Gael GE Candidate in Donegal said: “Fine Gael will publish a new National Disability Strategy, taking a whole-of-government approach to improving the lives of disabled people in Ireland.

“It will be vital in terms of putting the UNCRPD into action and represents a genuine opportunity to create a more inclusive society.

Recognising the cost of disability, Fine Gael will introduce a permanent €500 Annual Cost of Disability Support Payment which we will progressively increase in subsequent budgets.

Over another period in Government, we will increase Disability Allowance Payment to at least €300, and extend the Free Travel Pass available to all children receiving Domiciliary Care Allowance.”

Councillor Vicki Casserly, Fine Gael GE Candidate in Dublin Mid West said: “Increasing capacity and ensuring access to disability services is a priority for Fine Gael. We will increase the number of therapists we are training and improve workforce supply in our disability services. We will double college places in Physiotherapy, Occupational Therapy, and Speech and Language Therapy, and engage with third level institutions to make assessed placements in disability courses a key component in therapy training.

“By building up these resources we can continue to expand residential places, day service places and enhance our respite services,” Cllr Casserly concluded.