Opposition politicians have reacted angrily to a report that a number of hospitals including St James’s, St Vincent’s and Dublin’s two children’s hospitals will experience budget cuts of 2 per cent or more this year.
Fianna Fáil’s health spokesman, Billy Kelleher, described reports that St James’s Hospital is to face a 3.4 per cent budget cut under the latest HSE hospital allocations, equivalent to €9 million in cuts, as “a short-sighted and counterproductive strategy”.
“The extraordinary fact of the matter is that James Reilly is now effectively rewarding hospital mismanagement and penalising efficiency. Hospitals that have stuck to budgets and delivered savings are being penalised with significant budget cuts,” he said.
Aengus Ó Snodaigh described the cut of €9 million from St James’s budget as “unjustifiable and illogical”.
RTÉ news reported yesterday that, while some hospitals would see their budgets increase by up to 14 per cent in the case of the Louth-Meath Hospital Group, others would see cuts to their budgets.
