Health

Healthcare should be equally accessible and free at the point of access, not dependant on your ability to pay.

There is a plan to fix our broken health service and to achieve universal healthcare. It’s called Sláintecare, it has cross-party agreement, and the Social Democrats were the driving force behind its creation.

The full implementation of the Sláintecare model would be a red line issue for the Social Democrats in any government formation negotiations.

How will Sláintecare work?

Sláintecare sets out a road-map to move from a crisis-driven reactive approach to one that focuses on community care, prevention and equal access for all.

The full implementation of Sláintecare will mean:

• Enhanced primary care services, free at the point of use
• Quicker access to public hospitals
• Community care teams for older people and those with mental health and addiction needs
• An increase in hospital bed capacity and an end to the trolley crisis
• Many more doctors, nurses, therapists and public health nurses

Our Healthcare Priorities

• Ensure a pre-committed funding programme for the full implementation of Sláintecare
• Establish a National Workforce Taskforce to address the short-term and medium-term needs of the health sector
• Create a Statutory Homecare Scheme and end the current postcode lottery
• Improve conditions in the sector to stop emigration of our highly trained staff, and pay parity for workers in the community and voluntary sector
• A commitment that 10% of the health budget will be devoted to mental health services

Find Out More

You can read more about our policies and plans in our Healthcare policy document, linked below.