Comment: Budget 2021 appears to pay lip service to Sláintecare

Despite the record €4 billion boost for health services last week, there was little detail on how reform as laid out in the ten-year plan would be implemented

Paul Reid, chief executive of the HSE, said during the summer that €1 billion a year was needed for PPE; the Budget 2021 spend falls short of that. Photo: Leon Farrell/Photocall

The scale of this year’s health budget is certainly unprecedented – that much is clear. An extra €4 billion on top of last year’s sum brings the total to a whopping €22 billion.

While I welcome the scale of the investment, which could theoretically go a significant way towards reforming our health service, the devil is in the detail and there doesn’t appear to be much in that regard.

Let’s start by deconstructing where the ...