LEGAL FEES incurred by the Health Service Executive (HSE) on the western seaboard are “shocking” at a time of cutbacks in patient care, according to HSE West regional health forum chairman Cllr Padraig Conneely (FG).
Cllr Conneely said he would be seeking a full breakdown of legal expenditure by the HSE in the west and northwest, following publication of figures for the midwest last month.
Almost €2 million was spent on legal charges in 2008, according to figures supplied to Green Party councillor Brian Meaney at the July forum.
This compared with almost €1.5 million for legal costs in 2007.
The 30 per cent increase has been quoted as 10 per cent greater than the average increase in legal costs across the HSE regions.
The categories requiring legal expenditure are identified as community care, mental health, elderly care, the acute hospital programme and central services. Just over half the expenditure, at €1,044,940, relates to community care.
This compares with €339,377 for community care legal fees in 2007.
Cllr Conneely said the figures were astounding, and he would be “demanding full information” for the western and north-western areas at the next forum in September.
The HSE “doesn’t seem to have a problem paying top dollar to consultants, engineers and lawyers”, while applying a “cut, cut, cut” approach to patient care, Cllr Conneely said.
“Judging by this information supplied so far, we could be looking at €6 million or more paid to lawyers in this region,” he said.
“It is high time that such charges were negotiated, given the current economic climate.”
“The HSE must agree set fees with legal firms, and this is a perfectly reasonable approach in the current very difficult economic circumstances,” Cllr Conneely said.