HSE deficit projected to hit €510m

The Health Service Executive is heading towards a financial deficit of €510 million this year, according to the latest projections by health service management.

Minister for Health Leo Varadkar told the Dáil, in an answer to a written parliamentary question last week, that the HSE had recorded a net deficit of €361 million to the end of August.

The latest full health service financial accounts, which cover up until the end of July,are expected to show the HSE had a deficit of €285.6 million at that stage.

The new HSE performance report is expected to highlight a rise of almost 50 per cent in the amount spent on securing staff through employment agencies.

Agency costs

Sources said the HSE report would state that, to the end of July, its cost for agency staff was €194.3 million. The report will say this represents an increase of €63 million or 49 per cent on the corresponding period in 2013.

The cost of agency staff in the acute hospital sector was just over €132 million compared with €86 million for the same period last year.

The new HSE report is expected to show that over €57 million was paid out in respect of agency costs by hospitals for medical personnel.

The union Siptu yesterday called for an emergency engagement between the Minister and the health service unions over the operation of the Government's moratorium on recruitment.

Siptu health division organiser Paul Bell said he was shocked by the new figures on spending on agency personnel by the HSE.

He said the health service was being propped up by the use of the most expensive form of labour contracts for agency staff.

Mr Varadkar told journalists last week the Department of Health and the HSE were working on end-of-year projections for the financial deficit in the health service.