Hospital consultants have called on the HSE to realign the way it allocates its budget to give more priority to frontline services.
In a pre-budget submission released this afternoon, the Irish Hospital Consultants' Association said that frontline acute hospital and mental health services could not sustain further cuts.
The IHCA urged that vacant medical posts in hospitals and other frontline positions should be filled immediately.
It said that closed beds and hospital theatres should be re-opened.
IHCA president Dr Margo Wrigley said that it was a false economy to delay the treatment of patients.
"A delayed treatment has an incalcuable cost in terms of a patient's quality of life," she said.
She added that delays in treatment increase the length of time a patient has to spend in hospital.