THE HEALTH Service Executive has asked the Government to provide more than €160 million in additional funding before the end of the year to deal with its current financial difficulties.
The HSE has requested €111 million to pay for the deficit on “demand-led” schemes and for costs arising from the voluntary redundancy and early retirement schemes in the health service last year.
It is also seeking a further €50 million from the Government to deal with growing costs associated with childcare. It has argued that without this money services for children could be affected.
“The gross projected annual deficit in childcare services is €60 million for 2011. Efficiency measures are projected to deliver a maximum €10 million between now and the year-end.
“Supplementary funding is required to address the shortfall in childcare services estimated at €50 million on full-year basis. This deficit arises because of the ongoing demand for childcare services, many of which are statutorily based. Our legal obligations under the Child Care Acts compel us to put in place childcare placements and care arrangements.”
“This renders budgetary control very difficult. In the absence of a supplementary, it is difficult to see how the remaining €50 million can be reduced further without adversely impacting upon the HSE’s child protection services which is based in statute and by Order of the Courts.”
The Government’s position up to now has been that all departments have to live within their existing budgets and that no additional money will be provided.
However, Minister for Health James Reilly signalled yesterday that he will change regulations to allow public hospitals to seek payment from health insurance companies for private patients treated in their facilities without having to wait for consultants to sign forms for the companies concerned.
Some senior HSE sources have suggested that between €80 million and €100 million could be outstanding in fees due from insurance companies as a result of delays in consultants filling in the appropriate paperwork.
Separately, the HSE yesterday said that it was seeking to generate savings of more than €300 million before the end of the year.
In a commentary accompanying its monthly service report for the year to July, it said it was pursuing savings targets of €249 million as well as further contingency measures of €53 million to support the delivery of a balanced budget for the year.
The HSE report said that, in the year to July, it had recorded a financial deficit of €223.3 million. It said hospitals had overrun their budgets by €139 million by the end of July, a move it described as “a cause of significant concern”.
Hospitals which it identified as having particular financial difficulties were Mid-Western Regional Hospital in Limerick, Galway University Hospital, Tallaght hospital in Dublin and Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda.