The Chief Executive of the Health Service Executive has hit back at claims that the HSE is in crisis.
Launching the HSE annual report, Professor Brendan Drumm acknowledged that very serious mistakes have been made in recent times that have impacted very severely on patients and their families.
But he said that given all the positive changes that have taken place, it would be wrong to claim the organisation was in crisis.
Speaking at Ballymun's new health centre, Prof Drumm not surprisingly focused on the executive's achievements last year. These included a widening of community services, progress in delivering Primary Care Teams, and improvement in hospital services.
He did acknowledge that serious mistakes had been made, and that some of the criticism of the HSE was warranted and justified. But he said lessons had been learned, and said progress made in many areas was evidence that the promised transformation is happening, and that the organisation is not crisis.
And the HSE boss appealed to people of influence both inside and outside the HSE to support the change - support which he said would be of great benefit.
The professor also used the launch to re-emphasise that there is no recruitment embargo in place in the health service. But he said a cost containment plan will continue for the rest of the year to counteract the €100m overspend in the first quarter.
And he warned that further unforeseen challenges could arise before year's end, including an increase in unemployment, which he said could put the cost of providing medical cards up significantly.
