HSE receives €50m in additional funds but warns of challenges ahead

The Health Service Executive has been given another €50 million to fund services for older people, disability and hospices but says it will still face financial challenges in the year ahead.

The additional Government funding announced in the HSE service plan on Tuesday, which is on top of an extra €1 billion provided in the Budget in October, will also be used to relieve hospital overcrowding in winter, on homelessness projects and as seed funding for the first State-funded IVF (fertility treatment) scheme.

The health budget next year will be €17.056 billion, a 6.3 per cent increase on 2019 funding.

HSE chief Paul Reid said the health authority was "quite happy" with the funding although he maintained there would be "challenges" next year.

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The service plan suggests it would have needed a further €420 million to deal with demographic, technology and other pressures in the health system as well as unmet needs.

Controversial recruitment restrictions introduced this year are to continue.

The plan also suggests that there may be bed closures “preferably temporary” in some public long-term care facilities to deliver a 4 - 5 per cent cost reduction required next year.

Mr Reid maintained that despite the employment controls the HSE had taken on over 2,500 more staff including a net increase of 90 hospital consultants in the last year.

The Government's official direction to the HSE on drawing up its service plan, which also emerged on Tuesday, shows that the Department of Health sought the employment restrictions to remain in place .

“The Executive must ensure that staffing levels and expenditure on agency and overtime is fully aligned with available funding throughout 2020. The progress made during 2019 in aligning workforce to funding is recognised and the controls should continue through to end 2020.”

The HSE plan warns that hospitals are operating ahead of approved employment levels and will need to reduce pay costs in order to manage available resources next year.

In a foreword to the plan HSE chairman Ciaran Devane said the organisation would have to put in place "challenging savings and efficiency targets ".

The HSE said these would be “less than €400 million”.

Mr Devane maintained the current health service was “not fit for the future needs of our population”,

“A rising population with increasing numbers of both younger and older people is happening at a time of the development of better, more complex and expensive care.”

The plan states current levels of service in health will be maintained next year “as far as possible” in 2020.

However Mr Reid later said the HSE had secured funding to carry forward existing service levels into next year.

Under the plan, 45,000 patients aged over 75 years are to received “structure routing chronic disease care” in the community, for conditions such as diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma and heart disease.

Previously announced plans to provide free GP care for under eights are to be “progressed”in conjunction with the Department of Health.

More than €70 million, including €26 million from additional funding, is to be provided for the Fair Deal nursing home scheme, which will support a further 1,300 people . The current four-week waiting time for the scheme is to be maintained .through next year, according to the plan.

What about disability services?

Meanwhile, 55 in-patient palliative care beds are to be provided in four units in counties Waterford, Mayo, Wicklow and Kildare.

In disability services, €5 million will be spent on providing 40,000 additional personal hours, and 1,200 new placements will be provided for young people due to leave school or rehabilitative training. s