The health service is more than adequately funded by the taxpayer, the head of the Health Service Executive (HSE), Prof Brendan Drumm, said yesterday.
Change in the major restrictive work practices in the system was now required, he said.
Speaking on RTÉ radio yesterday, Prof Drumm said despite all the investment in the service, there were still stories about a man falling out of a bed in a hospital which couldn't employ extra nurses even though there were 2,500 staff. And stories that light bulbs couldn't be changed if an electrician wasn't present. "These are challenges. We have to transform, we have to change. But the public are at a crossroads - they'll have to support us."
He believes change is already happening under his stewardship of the HSE. He cited as examples improvements in A&E, better out-of-hours GP cover, and a decision on the location of a new national children's hospital.
However, that decision - to locate the hospital in Dublin's north inner city on the grounds of the Mater hospital - has been the subject of much criticism. Staff at existing children's hospitals in Tallaght and Crumlin who will be expected to move to the new facility have criticised the decision. The recently retired CEO of Crumlin hospital, Michael Lyons, said yesterday the process of planning for the new hospital had been "the most flawed one I have ever encountered in my career in the public service". He said it lacked transparency.
Prof Drumm said there were 500 opinions on where the hospital should be located and "it wouldn't appear for the next 50 years if we didn't take on these issues". He added: "We've had the children's hospital decision and we're not for turning and I 100 per cent support it". He said the huge advantage to putting it in the city was that workers could use public transport to access it.