THE HEALTH Service Executive (HSE) is seeking to generate €250 million in cost-containment measures by the end of the year, it emerged last night. At a meeting with trade unions, the HSE said it would be looking to make these savings in non-frontline areas.
The areas earmarked for savings include training; capital funding for technology services; population health; travel and subsistence; employment control; laboratory services, telephony costs and unpaid leave.
Trade union Impact last night said the new cuts would mean overall expenditure on public health services would be reduced by €500 million this year. The HSE did not give details of the precise nature of the cost containment measures, but said it would engage closely with trade unions on the issue in the coming weeks.
A HSE spokesman said last night it was extremely eager to avoid the measures impacting on frontline services, but that it would not be able to do this unless it had the unions' co-operation.
The meeting last night was delayed because of a row over a lack of consultation by the HSE over cost-containment measures and its failure to implement existing agreements. It is understood that Siptu also sought to send in its own financial advisers to examine the HSE's books.
The HSE told the meeting last night it had overrun its official budget by €147 million in the first six months and was projecting a deficit of €300 million for the full year. It said its community services - largely demand-led drug schemes - were €157 million in the red, while the hospital sector was €45 million over budget.
The HSE is forecasting that there will be a shortfall of €72 million in its value-for-money programme for the year which had aimed to save €300 million.
It is understood the level of savings predicted under the HSE's pharmacy reform plans are also not being delivered. The meeting also heard that the number of new medical cards issued so far this year is in line with the number it had forecast for all of 2008.
The meeting was told that the HSE board had decided at a special meeting 10 days ago that €250 million had to be saved in cost-containment measures by the end of the year.
It also heard that €85 million originally allocated under the "fair deal" scheme for financing long-term care, as well as €38 million in money for new developments and €6 million in an innovation fund, which formed part of the overall Department of Health savings announced last week, were not at present available to be offset against the HSE's projected deficit. The €500 million cuts suggested by Impact included the HSE's forecast €300 million shortfall, the €129 million which is the HSE's share of the overall health service cuts announced by the Government and the €72 million deficit in targeted value-for-money savings, which were built into the HSE's 2008 budget.
Impact national secretary Kevin Callinan said it was still unclear where the axe would fall, but that cuts on this scale would inevitably further undermine existing and promised services, despite ministerial assurances.