2 weeks Ago
SINN FÉIN’S HEALTHCARE plan includes a measure to provide free prescription medicines and the hiring of an additional 40,000 staff into the health service. The healthcare plan, which Sinn Féin pledges to enact should the party be elected to government in the upcoming election, contains around 350 measures. Other measures in the plan which will be published today includes employing 250 GPs on public contracts and delivering 5,000 extra hospital beds.
David Cullinane is Sinn Féin’s health spokesperson and speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, he described it as the “most comprehensive plan ever produced by any political party”. He said the plan reflects 150 meetings which included “thousands of people” such as patients, children waiting for care and their families, healthcare professionals, health experts, and healthcare trade unions. “We have children with scoliosis and spina bifida who are waiting years for surgeries,” said Cullinane.
“We have children who struggle with mental health, who can’t get access to services. “What does our plan do? It puts 5,000 hospital beds into the system, 2,400 community beds into the system. It will transform how we deliver children and youth mental health.
” He added that Sinn Féin’s plan “ensures that if you want to see a GP, you can see a GP on time, you can see a dentist on time”. Cullinane also remarked that “people won’t have to wait, like one million people do on a health waiting list, because this government doesn’t have the plan that we have produced.” The plans would include spending over €5.
4 billion on new health and social care measures, as well as investing over €15 billion in capital projects as part of a five-year strategy. Cullinane said this level of spending is “realistic and can be delivered”. He added that there are “huge budget surpluses” and said: “The Department of Finance has outlined, even if we have expansion and budgetary spend of tens of billions of euros over the next five years, we will still run budget surpluses”.
Meanwhile, Sinn Féin said there will be “savings built into” the healthcare plan. “We will save €1 billion a minimum in relation to agency spend, management consultancy, in relation to outsourcing of care,” said Cullinane. When asked how commitments on 40,000 additional staff would be met, Cullinane The embargo included all categories of staff, with the exception of consultants, doctors in training and nurses and midwives who graduated last year.
“I want those who have left to come home,” said Cullinane. “Those who are training at the moment, we’re proposing a bursary for first, second and third years of €3,000 and saying to them, ‘we will give you a job guarantee to come and work in the public system’.” Sinn Féin’s healthcare plan also includes a measure to employ 250 GPs on public contracts.
Cullinane said he hopes there would be more GPs due to a measure like this. “At the moment, GPs who are training have one option, and that’s independent practice,” said Cullinane. He said Ireland is an “outlier in Europe” in not having public GP contracts.
“We will negotiate with the Irish College of General Practitioners to make sure that that contract is fit for purpose, and that would mean that we can recruit 250 salaried GPs to come and work in the public space.” He added: “Our plan will give young trainees a choice: if you want independent practice, we will support you, but if you want to work as a public GP, we will do that.” Cullinane also said that having “public GPs on public contracts” will make it easier to fill GP posts in rural Ireland.
.
