The establishment of a Health Service Executive (HSE) which will function as a national agency and will replace the existing health boards and the Eastern Regional Health Authority.
The HSE will incorporate three pillars: a National Hospitals Office; a Primary, Community and Continuing Care Directorate; and a National Shared Services Centre. The Primary, Communityand Continuing Care Directorate will be organised on the basis of four regions to be decided.
Pending the enactment of legislation to set up the HSE, the National Hospitals Office arm of the HSE will be established immediately on an administrative basis.
The Report of the Taskforce on Medical Staffing is expected to be finalised shortly and will be published as soon as possible.
The Department of Health and Children is to be restructured and this will be examined by one of a series of working groups to be set up as part of the implementation process. The devolution of executive work will allow the Department to focus on strategic and policy issues. It will also be responsible for setting national service objectives and priorities for the health sector and for holdingthe Executive to account for its performance.
Based primarily on the Prospectus Report's proposals, the Government also agreed to mainstream, consolidate or abolish up to 21 existing health agencies in addition to the 11 health boards/ERHA.
There is to be a review, as part of the implementation process, of the activities currently being undertaken by the health service to see if some non-core activities such as income support, environmental health and food safety should be transferred to other parts of the public service
The establishment of a Health Information and Quality Authority.
Work to begin immediately on implementing the improved financial management systems recommended in the Brennan Report. A national service plan will be prepared by the Health Service Executive each year and submitted to the Minister for Health and Children for approval. It will be based on the service priorities set by the Minister for Health and Children and will outline the quantity and quality of services to be delivered in exchange for the funding allocation set by Government.
The Government decided to give the CEO of the HSE and statutory authority to assign duties to senior clinicians and general managers making them accountable for the financial implications of the clinical and management decisions.
The Government has agreed to commence a national communication process with stakeholders to be completed by October 2003.