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Progressing Sláintecare delivery from proposal to implementation: Insights from palliative care in Ireland

Sláintecare, Ireland’s national ten-year reform plan recommends universal healthcare. This represents the biggest Irish health system reform since its inception. Using palliative care as an exemplar this project analyses the implementation of universal palliative care internationally and applies these learnings to Ireland.
Through a palliative care lens, this research explores what Ireland can learn from other countries. It then examines the supply-side factors to be addressed in meeting Sláintecare proposals. Finally, it analyses the barriers and facilitators to realising these reforms in practice. This a multimethods design comprising; a comparative analyses of universal palliative care policy and implementation in five other countries and applying the lessons to the Irish context; modelling palliative care need between 2023 and 2040; estimating service capacity and workforce requirements in meeting policy commitments between 2023-2040; determining the applicability and acceptability of expanding the role of generalist palliative care in Ireland through stakeholder engagement. This project is applied research in real-time evident in the multi-methods and the research team. The collaborators include the most senior national palliative and health reform leaders as well as experienced palliative care, health systems and policy researchers. These findings will provide detailed evidence and guidance for the Sláintecare Implementation Office in delivering universal palliative care in Ireland specifically and offer wider learnings for of universal healthcare implementation nationally and internationally.