Northeast hospitals in financial difficulty

HSE report: Hospitals in the northeast and the midlands faced the most significant financial difficulties last year, the Board of the Health Service Executive (HSE) has been told.

Financial projections given to the board by HSE management in November forecast that hospitals in the northeast would collectively be more than €26 million in the red by the end of the year. This would represent an overrun of more than 13 per cent based on a budget of €193.5 million.

HSE management said additional expenditure was being driven by a 10 per cent increase in surgical cases and a 7 per cent rise in medical cases.

HSE management also maintained that the presence of large numbers of non-nationals at the former holiday camp in Mosney was adding to healthcare costs for the region.

"Additionally, expenditure is being driven by a 10 per cent increase in surgical cases and a 7 per cent increase in medical cases. Case complexity is also a cost factor given the level of non-nationals within the Mosney centre. The recruitment of agency nurses to maintain the employment ceiling is a further factor," HSE management told the board in its financial report.

The report also forecast that four of the main Dublin teaching hospitals could face financial deficits for the year unless funding earmarked for minor capital work could assist them in the final weeks.

A HSE spokeswoman told The Irish Times that nationwide services had achieved a breakeven position for the year. However, this does not mean that every individual hospital in the country operated within its budget. Hospitals around the country had forecast significant financial difficulties for the year based on their original State allocation for the year. However, it is understood the HSE provided around €80 million in additional funding, which it had previously held back, to hospitals last autumn to ease the financial pressures.

The HSE spokeswoman said full services in hospitals in the northeast had been funded to the end of the year.

The financial report given to the HSE also reveals that management believed abolition of charges for patients in long-stay public facilties would cost it around €82 million in lost income.

These charges were abolished by Minister for Health Mary Harney in December 2004 after questions emerged about their legality. The Supreme Court subsequently found charges levied on patients in long-stay public facilities such as nursing homes for over 30 years had been illegal.

The Department of Health refunded the HSE for the loss of income due to the abolition of the nursing home charges. This was separate to the repayment of up to €1 billion which will have to be made by the State to 60,000 patients and estates of deceased patients who were illegally charged for their care in long-stay public facilities.

The financial report, given to the board, said that up to last September the health services were running with a deficit of €199 million before taking account of additional State funding to make up for the loss of the long-stay income. The hospital sector was collectively €113 million in the red.

Management concluded that the application of minor capital funding within the National Development Plan "should enable the system to achieve a breakdown by year-end".