Fair Care – Making our Health Services Work

 Even with resources scarce, we can still focus on fairness. The acid test is how we help families cope with crises in their lives.

 FairCare is our fundamental reorganisation of the Irish health system based on three fundamental principles: 

• Treat all patients equally: ending the distinction between public and private patients
• Reward well-run hospitals by paying hospitals for the number of patients they treat and the quality of care they provide
• Allow patients choose their own health insurer who will compete to deliver a uniform package of benefits 

This approach gives control back to people. Money follows the patients’ needs, not the priority of bureaucrats.

For more information please visit: http://connect.finegael2011.com/forum/topics/a-completely-new-health-system

Smaller, Smarter Government

We need a smaller government that is effective and fair. Talented people in our public service are trapped in a system that fails them. We must break up the rigid structures and harness that talent. It is those who depend on public services who are the victims of waste.

• Revolutionise the way money is spent:
- Link money to results
- Stamp out waste
- Reward success

• More voice and more choice:
- Reveal waiting times and performance
- Let the client shape and choose the services
- Create a One Stop Shop for entitlements

• Protect frontline services:
- Streamline administration and quangos
- Develop new ways of working
- Equip local services to respond

We will create an engine of change and bring in new blood and new skills into top management to reinvent government in Ireland.

For more information please visit: http://connect.finegael2011.com/forum/topics/smaller-better-government

Fix the Public Finances

We must cut our cloth to what taxpayers can afford. Piling on more and more new taxes won’t work. By cutting waste and inefficiency we can protect frontline services.

• Focus on world-class efficiency in spending so income taxes don’t rise.
• Streamline administration – eliminate and streamline up to 145 agencies, starting with the HSE.
• Spread the burden fairly, hitting the big and the powerful, not just the ordinary person.

Every million we save in greater efficiencies means we reduce the threat to frontline entitlements.