HSE chief seeks an additional €2 billion in funding for 2016

The HSE is seeking Government to provide an additional €84.5 million for hospitals next year and to recruit over 1,800 additional staff.

It is also looking for more than €160 million and 550 additional personnel for primary care services around the county as well as an investment of €160 million in extra funding for social care along with about 470 more staff.

Overall, in its submission to Government for the budget next year, the HSE is seeking nearly €2 billion in extra funding for 2016.

In a letter sent to the Department of Health on August 12th, HSE director general Tony O'Brien said the country's frontline public health services required "significant additional investment to begin to repair the impact of six or seven years of austerity and to move towards acceptable levels of service".

‘Standing still’

Mr O’Brien argued that an investment in the health service was needed in 2016 that would be over and above “the cost of simply standing still”. He said that about €1.4 billion in additional funding would be required to maintain the existing levels of service.

However, he warned: “If we simply stand still we will not be in a position to address the needs of our population as it grows and ages in the years ahead.”

The HSE proposed an additional investment of €579 million, including a €160 million allocation to cater for the country’s growing and ageing population.

The HSE also proposed that it should recruit an additional 5,000 staff who would come on stream between 2016 and late 2017 or early 2018.

Frontline services

It said this would represent an increase of about 5 per cent on the current staffing levels. The vast bulk of these additional personnel would be earmarked for frontline services.

The HSE told the Department of Health that its financial deficit for this year was likely to be a minimum of about €500 million and that “significant investment” of €84.5 million was required in 2016 along with the recruitment of 1,821 personnel.

It said €28 .6 million was required for the development of cancer services.

The HSE suggested that it would need about €104 million to pay for new drugs and medicines in the primary care area. It also proposed an additional €88 million for investment in disability services.