Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 7 May 2025
444. Deputy Marie Sherlock asked the Minister for Health the estimated costs of ensuring adequate national capacity to deliver cardiac rehabilitation to all patients for whom it is recommended, ensuring that staffing and resources are protected; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [22174/25]
View answer445. Deputy Marie Sherlock asked the Minister for Health the plans that have been established to fund the implementation of the new cardiac rehabilitation model of care; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [22175/25]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 444 and 445 together.
The Model of Care for Integrated Cardiac Rehabilitation, launched in October 2023, will ensure that patients living with cardiovascular disease across the country have equitable and timely access to high quality cardiac rehabilitation care, no matter where they live.
Recommendation 19 of the recently-published National Review of Cardiac Services (NRCS) sets out that all patients, following a cardiac event, or those diagnosed with HF, should be offered and have access to an appropriate CR programme. An implementation plan for the NRCS is currently being progressed by the HSE, with cardiac rehabilitation identified as an initial priority.
As part of the NRCS implementation prioritisation, funding has been provided through the HSE National Service Plan 2025 to support the project, Implementation and evaluation of the Model of Care for Integrated Cardiac Rehabilitation in two Integrated Health Area (IHA) regions in HSE West and North West. This project is a proof of concept of the implementation of the Model of Care for Integrated Cardiac Rehabilitation. It will address critical gaps in cardiac rehabilitation teams in two Integrated Health Areas (IHAs), IHA Galway-Roscommon and IHA Mayo, by recruiting additional posts, to convene complete integrated cardiac rehabilitation teams, and subsequently enabling these teams to deliver and evaluate an end-to-end implementation of the Model of Care. Thirteen new posts have been funded across four hospitals and three hubs in the region. These posts are currently in recruitment. Learnings will be shared across all six-health regions to inform future implementation.
The NRCS report provides the data and roadmap for a once-in-a-generation reform of cardiac services, and we are ambitious to progress this important work. The Minister has written to the HSE to begin developing an implementation plan by June 2025. Publication of the Review and the development of the implementation plan will be key facilitators of our new national cardiovascular strategy as promised in the Programme for Government. Any future development in cardiac rehabilitation services will be informed by the implementation plan of NRCS and subject to the usual estimates process. The recommendations of the review will inform the future provision of cardiac services nationally.
