Mater hospital faces shortfall of almost €20m

State funding: The board of the Mater hospital in Dublin has been told that it is facing a financial shortfall of nearly €20 million this year.

The hospital has told the Health Service Executive (HSE) that its board believes its State funding allocation for the year is totally inadequate to provide the same level of services as last year.

The HSE has consistently maintained that there should be no cuts in front-line services in hospitals this year.

Hospital management has told the board that it had been notified of an official allocation of €185.6 million when it believes that its indicative base-funding requirement for the year is €203.9 million.

Management at the Mater told the board that this would leave a projected shortfall of €18.3 million for the year.

According to official Mater board minutes, seen by The Irish Times, the directors have expressed serious concern about the financial position.

The board instructed management last April to inform the HSE that the funding on offer was "unacceptable".

The board also directed management to outline to the HSE "action that the hospital would have to take to operate within the allocation, as notified".

Neither the hospital nor the HSE would comment on the measures that the Mater has indicated that it would have to take to live within the official funding limits.

Mater hospital managers had indicated to the board in recent months that additional funding streams could be provided by the HSE in addition to the current allocation.

The hospital declined to comment on whether it had been provided with this additional funding.

A spokesman for the Mater said that it was in discussions with the HSE on its financial position.

A HSE spokesman said it was in discussions all the time with hospitals with regard to the provision of service.

The HSE spokesman said that not all funding for the year had been allocated as of yet.

He said that many hospitals had received very significant capital funding in recent weeks and that additional investment had been earmarked for the Mater.

It is understood that the Mater is not the only hospital concerned about its financial position.

Informed sources said that Beaumont Hospital had also written to the HSE with concerns about its allocation.

The chairmen of the main Dublin voluntary hospitals have also met in recent months to discuss their financial positions.

The Irish Times revealed earlier this year that the HSE had told the Department of Health that savings of around €200 million would have to be made in the current year to live within the overall €11 billion health budget provided by the Government this year.