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Social Democrats co-leader Róisín Shortall TD today called on the Minister for Health to appoint a new head of the HSE on an interim basis – and to only fill the post permanently once key accountability reforms are carried out. Deputy Shortall said: “At the heart of the Cervical Check crisis is a lack of […]

Social Democrats co-leader Róisín Shortall TD today called on the Government to wake up to the crisis in General Practice and set out a timetable to reverse austerity cuts which are harming GP practices and patients. Deputy Shortall made her comments as major differences have emerged between the State and doctors over the scale of […]

Social Democrats co-leader Róisín Shortall TD has strongly criticised Government inaction on the crisis in General Practice which means medical card patients are increasingly being refused access to basic GP services. Deputy Shortall said: “Today’s Sunday Business Post health feature clearly demonstrates that there is a very real crisis in General Practice where increasingly medical […]

Social Democrats co-leader Róisín Shortall TD has described today’s record high levels of hospital overcrowding as disgraceful, predictable and avoidable. Deputy Shortall was commenting on figures from the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation which show that the number of people on trolleys and wards awaiting hospital beds has risen to a new high of 677. […]

Social Democrats co-leader Róisín Shortall TD has strongly questioned the government’s commitment to fully implement Sláintecare, the fully costed ten-year health reform plan put forward by a cross-party Oireachtas committee. Speaking following a Dáil debate on the Sláintecare plan today, Deputy Shortall said she and other members of the Oireachtas committee which produced the Sláintecare […]

Social Democrats joint leader Róisín Shortall TD has welcomed the announcement that Mr Donal de Buitléir will chair an expert group to examine the impact of separating private practice from the public hospital system, as recommended in the Sláintecare health reform plan. Deputy Shortall, who chaired the cross-party Oireachtas committee which produced the Sláintecare report, […]

Any group set up to examine the impact of separating private practice from the public hospital system must be fully independent and free from conflicts of interest, Social Democrats co-leader Róisín Shortall TD cautioned today. Deputy Shortall was speaking as the Cabinet meets in Cork to discuss the Sláintecare blueprint for a reformed public health […]

Budget 2018 falls very far short of what is needed to implement the Sláintecare health reform plan, Social Democrats co-leader Róisín Shortall TD said today. Speaking immediately after the Budget was announced, Deputy Shortall said: “For the first time in history, the government had in front of it a fully costed plan for health reform […]

In a reply to a Dáil question this week, the Minister for Health further set out his plans for the implementation of the Sláintecare report. Róisín Shortall TD, co-leader of the Social Democrats today welcomed the news that the Government have committed to the setting up of an implementation office for Sláintecare. Deputy Shortall said: […]

Social Democrats co-leader Róisín Shortall TD has said that the disgracefully high number of patients on hospital trolleys can only be tackled once and for all with the wholesale overhaul of our health system as set out in the Sláintecare reform plan. Deputy Shortall said: “The summer is barely over and already we have record […]

According to Social Democrats co-leader, Róisín Shortall TD, “today’s shocking hospital waiting lists of 687,000 people are a new record and represent a huge failing on the part of Government.  Providing a decent health service where people can get timely treatment, on the basis of need, is a basic requirement of any civilised country.  Yet […]

The mixing of private incentive and public interest at the heart of our health system creates an ungovernable twilight zone, Róisín Shortall TD will tell the MacGill Summer School tonight. Deputy Shortall chaired the cross-party Committee on the Future of Healthcare which recently produced a 10-year blueprint for reform of the health service, called Sláintecare […]