THE PROVIDERS of an innovative home treatment health initiative, which has been axed by the HSE, have vowed to fight the decision.
Up to 70 doctors, nurses and care staff working for the "Hospital in the Home" scheme are to lose their jobs next month after the HSE told staff on Friday that funding was to be cut.
Tara Healthcare, a private firm contracted to provide the service in 2007, said it planned to lobby Minister for Health Mary Harney to overturn the decision.
The HSE defended the cutback, saying a review had determined the scheme was not cost-effective and there was a need to make savings. A spokesman said it was committed to the concept of treating patients in their homes but planned to operate the service rather than contracting it out.
When it was launched, the scheme was hailed as a radical way to reduce queues at hospital A&E clinics as well as ensuring that fewer patients are exposed to the risk of hospital-acquired infections such as MRSA. The annual budget was almost €6.4 million.
The HSE spokesman said the 1,500 patients treated under the scheme in Dublin over the past year was small compared to an overall admission figure of 100,000 patients a year.
However, Chay Bowes, managing director of Tara Healthcare, described the decision as ludicrous and high-handed. "This is the one thing in the health services that is working, and they're going to can it. The HSE won't be able to do this more cheaply; in fact, they won't be able to do it at all."
