Dublin's Mater to cut patient intake by 3,200

Dublin's Mater Hospital said today it will be forced to reduce its patient admissions this year by 3,200 due to a lack of funds.

The hospital said it was facing an €18.2 million shortfall in its budgetary allocation and that it has been forced to cut costs. The hospital authorities said they will close 115 beds - about a fifth of its present capacity - from May 1st.

This follows the closure of an 18-bed five-day ward at the hospital earlier this month.

The hospital also plans to reduce the levels of theatre and diagnostic services as well services to GPs and other hospitals. However, there will be no redundancies as a result of these measures.

"What we are trying to do is spread it evenly across the specialities," the hospital's spokeswoman and patient services manager, Ms Phil O'Neill said.

"We have an €18 million deficit and really we have no other way of tackling it other than this. This was a last resort. It totally goes against our mission statement and everything we stand for but unfortunately we have no other choice".

However, a spokeswoman for the Department of Health told ireland.comthe hospital was still in consultation with the Eastern Region Health Authority (ERHA) concerning its budgetary allocation.

She said the ministry was of the opinion that at least the same level services as last year should be budgeted for.

The hospital said it had calculated that - owing to PPF increments, regular salary increments, pensions and medical and general inflation - its budgetary need for 2003 was €167.3 million.

However, the funding allocation agreed with the ERHA was €155.2 million, it said. Combined with an operational deficit of 2 per cent this left a shortfall for 2003 of €18.2 million.