The six new HSE Health Regions (formerly Regional Health Areas or RHAs) are in line with recommendations made in the Oireachtas Committee on the Future of Healthcare Sláintecare Report (2017), that regional bodies should be responsible for the planning and delivery of integrated health and social care services. Integrated care is where services, funding, and governance are co-ordinated around the needs of the patient, encompassing both acute and community care. HSE Health Regions will ensure the geographical alignment of hospital and community healthcare services at a regional level, based on defined populations and their local needs. This is key to delivering on the Sláintecare vision of an integrated health and social care service. As well as enabling the integration of community and acute care, Health Regions aim to empower local decision-making and support population-based service planning. This will ultimately strengthen our health service and lead to improved patient experience as well as access to healthcare closer to home.

HSE Health Regions aim to facilitate comprehensive integrated, person-led, community-first health and social care through the alignment of acute and community-based services. Health Regions will enable an alignment of services where:

• patients and staff feel safe, supported, and well-informed at all points in their care journey
• care is provided as close to home as possible; and
• health and social care services are planned and funded around the needs of the population

Health Regions involve the full alignment and better integration of health and social care services within each specific region. This is a key component of how the HSE will organise and deliver integrated health and social care services into the future. The objectives of HSE Health Region implementation are aligned with Sláintecare’s overall aims and objectives and are intended to:

• increase the integration of community and acute services
• introduce a population-based approach to service planning
• improve clinical governance; and
• improve corporate governance and accountability

The geographies/map of the six HSE Health Regions are based on population data including how people currently access health services and how disruption to patients could be minimised, as well as a public consultation. A government decision approved the Health Region geographies in July 2019.

The HSE Health Regions Implementation Plan sets out a high-level programme of work with objectives, critical actions, and timelines to transition to the six Health Regions. This is with a view to standing up the Health Region approach from February 2024, in line with the Programme for Government’s Universal Healthcare Mission and the overall design principles and objectives of Sláintecare.