The Tánaiste and Minister for Health, Ms Harney, has said that the Government should direct some of the money it will save from special savings schemes payments to facilities for the care of the elderly, writes Liam Reid.
Ms Harney said that the provision of care facilities for the elderly, such as medical aftercare centres, would be one of her priorities as she takes over at the Department of Health.
"It's an issue I have a huge interest in. I believe given the demographics in this society, we have to take it more seriously," the Minister said in an interview on RTÉ radio yesterday morning.
She said that the current savings scheme - by which the State pays €1 for every €4 saved by more than a million account holders - is costing the Exchequer €500 million. This money, she argued, could be diverted to the elderly when the scheme ends in 2007.
"Some of that money has to go into the provision of facilities for the long-term care [of the elderly]."
During the interview with Today presenter Pat Kenny, the Tánaiste also said that current Government spending on health is not providing sufficient value for public money.
Despite the fact that spending on health had tripled to over €10 billion since Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats came to power in 1997, the Minister said it is still not enough. And while services have improved and the user base has grown, the service is still lacking, Ms Harney said.
"The reality is we haven't got the health service I believe we could have and should have for that money."
She said she had already held meetings with senior officials in the Department and healthcare sector, and believed that there could be real improvements in the short term, in advance of major administrative reforms.
"We have to get some early results in relation to A&E for example, and waiting lists."
Ms Harney said it was also her intention to raise the income threshold for qualifying for a medical card, which currently stands at €156 a week. "It's far too low, there's no doubt about that and it has slipped back enormously in recent years . . . It's not just the money that will have to be paid to the GPs but it's also the drug bills that accompanies extending the medical card. But it will be a priority of mine to change the threshold."
However, she ruled out a universal free GP care system, believing the money could be better spent on other priorities.
"It would cost an enormous amount of money and I don't think it would be fair."
Ms Harney said she welcomed suggestions from various experts in the healthcare system, people "who know an awful lot more about it than I do."
"I'm not driven by any particular ideology. Whatever makes sense is what I want to promote."
The Tánaiste said she believed she could get the support from the general public for many of the reforms. Service cuts that were poorly explained had frightened the public, she said. Reforms, in turn, will now mean an improvement in service.
"We can't be defeatist, it can be done," she said. "Nobody wants to live in the country where we can't get the best healthcare."
The Tánaiste said she was also personally aware of "the pressure points" in Irish hospitals, with people waiting on trolleys for hours, through personal experience as her mother had been a regular in various hospitals since she suffered a stroke 10 years ago. Although her mother had received excellent care, on a recent visit to see her at Tallaght hospital, she was approached by someone who said their mother was waiting on a trolley for 10 hours.
"I want to end that. It's not going to happen tomorrow, or in a week or two weeks, but I want to do everything I physically can to make sure that I don't live in a country where that is the norm, and that's unfortunately the situation today."
Ms Harney said friends thought she was "mad" to have accepted the role in health. For her part, she accepted it because she enjoyed "a challenge".
More needed than 'Time for a Change': page 14