Fianna Fáil TD for Cavan Monaghan Brendan Smith has called on the Minister for Health to examine what role CAWT, the cross-border health and social care partnership, can play in tackling COVID-19 in the border region.
“As we sadly know too well some of the highest Covid-19 incidence in Ireland is in border counties, north and south.”
“The CAWT (Cooperation and Working Together) partnership was established in 1992 with the goal of adding value to health and social care activity by bringing a cross border dimension to the on-going collaboration between the health systems in both jurisdictions.”
“One of its specific aims is to embed cross border planning and implementation in core activities, where more efficient and cost effective to do so. I believe that the pandemic in border counties must be looked at in this context.
“Minister Donnelly should ask the HSE to explore with Northern Ireland counterparts what impetus CAWT could bring to meeting the challenge of Covid. It’s vital that we deploy and utilise all resources to get this virus under control and with the particular prevalence in border counties surely CAWT’s role can be given new focus,” concluded the Deputy.
