The Health Minister Leo Varadkar has promised to reduce waiting times for inpatients and day case treatment to 15 months by year end.

Mr Varadkar has set out his health priorities for the year - and says by mid-year waiting times for procedures will be no longer than 18 months.

This will reduce by a further three months by December.

He has also pledged to reduce the number of patients on trolleys in emergency departments, waiting for admission for over nine hours, by one-third to less than 70. 

Mr Varadkar said: "These priorities provide a clear direction for the development of health services and policy in 2015."

"The 25 priorities include new legislation to reduce alcohol consumption, proposals to extend the remit of HIQA, extending the range of services available in primary care, moves to increase the number of people with health insurance, the first national survey of Ireland's health in eight years and an ambitious target to cut the number of delayed discharges by one third to 500 and take pressure off overcrowded emergency departments and hospitals," he added.

The department has published a more detailed list of priorities covering the period to 2017:

• Introduce major Public Health Bills (Alcohol, Standardised Packaging of Tobacco, Licensing of Sale of Tobacco)
• Publish the findings from the first Healthy Ireland survey, giving an overview of the health of the nation for the first time since 2007.
• Reduce number of patients with Delayed Discharges by one third to less than 500 and number of patients on trolleys in EDs waiting for admission for over 9 hours by one third to less than 70. (Q4 average number of delayed discharges & SDU TrolleyGar.)
• Develop and implement a plan to address waiting lists, with a focus on very long waiters such that by mid-year, nobody will wait longer than 18 months for in patient and day case treatment or an outpatient appointment, with a further reduction thereafter to no greater than 15 months by year end.
• Continue to reduce the cost of medicines to patients and the taxpayer.
• Publish the Review of the Mental Health Act.
• Extend and implement the National Clinical Effectiveness Guidelines. 
• Take the first concrete steps to provide a Universal Health service by extending GP services without fees to all under sixes and GP services without fees to the over 70s
• Put in place models of care that improve the way people can access services, by supporting new models of chronic disease management, increasing GP access to diagnostic services and progressing the provision of minor surgery in primary care.
• Commence development of a revised contract for publicly-funded GP services as part of an integrated health service
• Implement a package of measures to increase the number of people with health insurance
• Universal Health Insurance - complete the costing analysis and revert to Government with a roadmap on next steps
• Secure planning permission for the new children's hospital (St James's campus) and satellite centres (Blanchardstown and Tallaght) and publish heads of Bill to merge the three existing children's hospitals into one
• Commence works on the new National Forensic Mental Health Services Campus (Portrane)
• Submit planning application for the new National Maternity Hospital (St Vincent’s)
• Build nine new primary care centres and more through lease arrangements

The Minister joined Jonathan Healy on Lunchtime today to discuss the issue and the report from Galway's Portiuncula Hospital.

"Obviously we would like to do better."

"I'm not going to tell you that in one year that we can solve problems that have been around for 15 years.

"We are doing everything we can, opening closed beds."

Discussing the Children's Hospital, he said that it might not be fully operational until 2020: "Well if you think it through, the planning application comes in in June. All things going to plan, and I don't control An Bord Pleanála, but you'd hope there would be a favourable decision before the end of the year. It goes to tender in the first half of 2016. Construction begins in 2016

"Three years to build the biggest health project in the history of the state."

On the issue of Universal Health Care, the Minister wasn't eager to give a date for when this would definitely happen: "I'd like a road map with more clear steps on it.

He continued by stating there were a number of factors involved which he would like to put in place first:"We don't have an individual health identifier in Ireland.

"We don't have a single financial system across the HSE and we're only starting this idea of activity based funding."

On the issue of Portiuncula Hospital, Mr Varadkar said that it was not the intention of the HSE not to inform families about the report but rather there was a leak to the media: "It wasn't the hospital group that made it public, there was a leak to the media."

"Our hospitals and our materinity services are safe. They are on a par with any others in the western world."

You can listen to his full interview here: