Ministerial report from Alex White TD

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Minister Alex White TD Minister of State in Department of Health with responsibility for Primary Care

WORKING TOGETHER

FREE GP CARE FOR CHILDREN AGE 5 AND UNDER ■ In Budget 2014, we gave hard-pressed families a break by introducing free access to GP care for children aged five and under ■ This is a first step to achieving universal access to GP services without fees and a building block for establishing the longer term goal of Universal Health Insurance.

■ The evidence is clear that people delay or avoid visiting their GP where a fee is required. Removing this cost barrier will mean that citizens will be far more likely to address medical problems at an earlier stage, leading to better outcomes and treatment that is of less cost to the State.

■ That is why the Labour Party has long championed the idea of unversal free access to GP care and why, along with our Coalition partners, we have pledged to introduce it.

THE PROTECTION OF LIFE DURING PREGNANCY BILL ■ The Protection of Life during Pregnancy Bill was passed by the Oireachtas last summer. This has been a longstanding policy objective of the Labour Party.

■ We can be proud of our work and see it as a major achievement in Government. However, the debate goes on and we must lead the discussion as we always have in the past.

■ This milestone legislation will provide much needed clarity for women and medical professionals as to the circumstances where a termination is permissible in this country. While limited in its effect, the legislation required protracted work and input, and I was pleased to contribute to this along with my colleague Minister Kathleen Lynch.

Attending a Health Forum in Limerick with MEP Phil Prendergast

Green flag ceremony at a local school in Dublin South

Fielding queries from the media

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PUBLIC POLICY INITIATIVE ON REDUCING THE CONSUMPTION OF ALCOHOL ■ In May I presented to Government a comprehensive set of proposals to address pricing, access, availability and the marketing of alcohol.

■ Government approved the drafting of a General Scheme of a Public Health (Alcohol) Bill in early autumn. This will be the first time ever that alcohol is properly addressed as a public health issue in this country. The principle measures will include: ■ Minimum unit pricing for retailing of alcohol products; ■ Regulation of marketing and advertising of alcohol in the media domains of TV and radio, cinemas, outdoor and print – as well as the content of such advertisements; ■ Regulation of sports sponsorship, specifically to place an existing voluntary code that governs sports sponsorship on a statutory footing; ■ Separation of alcohol from other products; ■ Enforcement powers for Environmental Health Officers in relation to alcohol; ■ Health labelling of alcohol products.

■ This major public health policy has not been without its critics, especially from the alcohol industry. I do of course appreciate the concerns expressed by national sporting bodies. However, the objective is to tackle the huge economic and social harm caused by excessive alcohol consumption in Ireland, and to try to protect our youngest and most vulnerable from alcohol misuse.

TACKLING THE PROBLEM OF DRUGS ■ Earlier this year I published a set of structural reforms to the management and oversight of the strategy in order to make it more effective in tackling drug addiction.

■ Throughout the autumn I have been holding a range of bilateral discussions with all the contributing parties to the National Drugs Strategy with the objective of renewing a ‘whole-of-government’ and to ensure that all departments and agencies are working well with the community and voluntary sectors, especially in the light of the many new challenges we face in this area. This process will conclude in January 2014 when I intend to host a series of formal engagements which will restate our objectives and establish effective structures suitable to advancing the contributions of all sectors.

■ Minimised the funding reduction to the Local/Regional Drugs Task Forces: after much negotiation the budget reduction to the Task Forces was minimized to a 3% reduction for 2014.

REFERENCE PRICING TO SEE PATIENTS AND TAXPAYERS BENEFIT FROM REDUCED COSTS As Minister for Primary Care, I announced the immediate reduction in prices for atorvastatin products, which are used to control cholesterol. The price reductions are the result of the introduction of reference pricing under recent legisaltion.

■ The introduction of this first reference price, for a medicine represented a major step in ensuring lower prices are paid for these medicines.

■ The commencement of reference prices will ensure that generic medicine prices in Ireland will fall towards European norms.

■ It will safeguard value for money for the taxpayer and will mean that prices are set at levels which facilitate – not jeopardise – supply of these products in Ireland.

Reference prices for this group of products will soon be followed by reference pricing for additional groups of medicines designated as interchangeable by the Irish Medicines Board (IMB).

Alex White TD Dáil Éireann, Leinster House, Kildare Street, Dublin 2 Phone: 01 618 3972 Email: alex.white@oir.ie Constituency Office: 9 Braemor Road, Churchtown, Dublin 14 Phone: 01 2960047