A LARGE Dublin hospital is to be docked more than €2.6 million from its budgetary allocation this year due to inefficiencies.
The money is being cut from the allocation to Tallaght hospital by the Health Service Executive under a system called “casemix” that penalises inefficient hospitals and redirects the money to more efficient ones.
Factors taken into account include the cost of treating patients with similar conditions in similar-sized hospitals.
New figures published by the HSE yesterday show the worst-performing hospital under the casemix system in 2010 and for the third year in a row is Tallaght hospital. It will have its budget cut by €2.64 million.
The other hospitals to be penalised most under the casemix system in 2010 include Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda, which will have its budget cut by €1.79 million; Tullamore General Hospital, which will have its budget slashed by €1.712 million; Limerick Regional, which will have its budget cut by €1.39 million and Loughlinstown hospital, Dublin, which has had its budget cut by €1.31 million.
The only other hospital to have its budget cut by more than €1 million is Sligo General which faces a budget cut of €1.13 million.
Overall nearly €14 million is being taken from 18 inefficient hospitals and redistributed among 21 efficient ones.
The best-performing hospitals include Mullingar General Hospital, Wexford General Hospital, St James’s Hospital, Dublin, St Luke’s in Kilkenny and Mayo General. Mullingar hospital has been rewarded with an additional €2.39 million in its budget while the other four best-performing hospitals will each receive more than €1 million extra in funding this year.
The HSE says the system aims to redirect funds to hospitals which have demonstrated that additional funding will result in real benefits. It says the budget adjustments – which are based on hospital performances in 2008/09 – are a reflection of each hospital’s true performance against their peers taking account of each hospital’s unique mix of cases and differing complexities.
“Hospitals are not penalised for long-stay patients, neither are they rewarded for discharging patients too early,” the HSE says.
“The system is designed to take account of each hospital’s unique issues and unique patients. As the HSE moves forward with plans for ever more evidence-based management, it is expected that casemix will play more of a central role in acute hospital funding and management practices.”.
Other hospitals receiving a budget boost of between €500,000 and €1 million under casemix this year include Cork University Hospital (+€989,531), Louth County Hospital (+€782,415), Waterford Regional Hospital (+€619,107), University College Hospital Galway (+€550,871), Cavan General Hospital (+€515,122), Rotunda Hospital (+€509,702), Letterkenny General Hospital (+€507,869) and the South Infirmary Victoria Hospital in Cork (+€502,572).
In addition, a number of other hospitals will receive extra funding but in smaller amounts. These include Kerry General, Crumlin, Mallow General, Mercy Hospital Cork, South Tipperary Hospital, Merlin Park Regional Hospital in Galway, Croom Hospital and the Mater hospital.
Meanwhile, the remaining hospitals to have their budgets cut in 2010 for inefficiencies include Portlaoise General (-€905,710), Portiuncula Hospital (-€686,986), Navan hospital (-€564,096), St Mary’s Orthopaedic Hospital (-€455,954), Temple Street (-€409,448), Coombe (-€282,291), Holles Street (-€227,411), Connolly Hospital (-€156,148), Naas Hospital (-€97,888), Cappagh Hospital (-€45,203), St Vincent’s hospital (-€37,581) and Beaumont Hospital (-€22,010).