Dialogue Forum with Voluntary Organisations
From Department of Health
Published on
Last updated on
From Department of Health
Published on
Last updated on
The Report of the Independent Review Group (IRG) established to examine the role of voluntary organisations in publicly funded health and personal social services was published in February 2019. A key finding in the Report is the need to improve the relationship between voluntary organisations and the State. At the time of publication of the Report, Minister Harris announced his intention to establish a new Dialogue Forum. The first meeting of this new Forum took place on 2 December 2019.
The aim of the Forum is to build a stronger working relationship between the State and the voluntary healthcare sector for the benefit of patients and service users and to facilitate regular dialogue with the voluntary sector on future policy and strategic developments.
The Forum is chaired by independent Chair Peter Cassells.
The following organisations are represented on the Forum:
Full membership list
Partnership Principles: Building A New Relationship between Voluntary Organisations and the State in the Health and Social Care Sectors
NESC Secretariat paper: Building a New Relationship between Voluntary Organisations and the State in the Health and Social Care Sectors: Paper for the Dialogue Forum with Voluntary Organisations
The Dialogue Forum hosted a Webinar with Dr Damian Thomas of NESC on the NESC Secretariat paper Building a New Relationship between Voluntary Organisations and the State in the Health and Social Care Sectors: Paper for the Dialogue Forum with Voluntary Organisations.
The NESC Secretariat paper is available here.
A recording of the Webinar is available to view here
A Workshop took place at the July Dialogue Forum meeting. Please find the Workshop output pack attached below.
Voluntary Organisations Dialogue Forum Regional Health Areas Workshop Output Pack 12 September 2022
On Monday 3 April 2023, the Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly, was joined by HSE CEO Bernard Gloster and colleagues from Voluntary Organisations at a Dialogue Forum event to launch the Partnership Principles. The Dialogue Forum with Voluntary Organisations was established in late 2019 with the aim of building a stronger, more collaborative, working relationship between the State and voluntary providers (S38/39) in the health and social care sector for the benefit of the people using our health services. Members of the Forum include the Department of Health, HIQA, Mental Health Commission and eight voluntary representative organisations. To facilitate regular and structured dialogue between these entities, the Forum has engaged in several activities, including the collaborative development of the Partnership Principles, which were officially launched during the event. The Partnership Principles serves as a foundation for strengthening the relationship between the State and voluntary organisations. The Principles emphasise the need to place the person at the centre of our partnership and to work on the basis of trust and mutual respect so that coherent planning and good decisions are informed by engagement and participation - harnessing the strengths of both the statutory and voluntary sectors for the benefit of the people using our services. The event was positive and future looking as the Principles were warmly welcomed by all and as representatives from both the State and voluntary sectors committed to making them a reality.