ABOUT TEN per cent of the country's acute hospital beds will be closed next year due to budget cuts, trade unions have claimed.
Union leaders said that at a briefing yesterday on its draft service plan for next year, the Health Service Executive said there were nearly 500 beds closed and that a further 600 would be taken out of the system next year.
General secretary of the Irish Nurses Organisation Liam Doran said unions were told that there would be 1,090 acute hospital beds closed overall next year.
He said that "these drastic cutbacks would have a huge impact on the ability of patients to access hospital services".
The HSE said it planned to increase residential capacity for older people who did not need acute hospital care with 483 new non-acute beds and 150 replacement non-acture beds being brought on stream.
Health unions have asked for details on where and when the new non-acute beds would be provided.
They have also sought further information on the plans to close the 600 additional acute beds next year.
It is understood that the unions were told yesterday that 70 of the bed closures would be in the Dublin/mid-Leinster region.
In its briefing on the draft service plan - the HSE's blueprint on how it plans to spend its €14.8 billion budget next year - it said that it wanted to maintain activity at 2008 levels.
But the executive added that it needed further efficiencies of €240 million in addition to the €280 million secured this year.
In essence it said that it would have to reduce spending by the equivalent of the cost of 3,000 posts.
The HSE said this would involve the reconfiguration of services with, for example, fewer hospital beds and more day surgery.
The HSE also said it would seek to make the spending cuts through staff reductions, redeployment, pay-related savings and a voluntary redundancy scheme, if possible.
Under current plans the HSE is aiming to introduce any voluntary redundancy scheme approved by Government after it completes the reorganisation of its structures towards the end of next year.
In its community services, the HSE said it wanted to consolidate existing primary-care teams next year as well as continuing to develop new teams.
It also said it would focus on infrastructure for primary-care centres.
The HSE also said there would be a 1 per cent reduction in the budgets of voluntary agencies for management and administration functions.
However, there would be an increase in therapy posts for children's services.
The HSE added that in the area of mental health there would be two new 20-bed child and adolescent units provided in Cork and Galway.
In the hospital sector the HSE said it wanted to maintain service levels and introduce a shift from in-patient to day-case services.
It said that it wanted to improve the number of new out-patients seen in hospitals with fewer return patients.
It was also targeting the same number of people turning up in hospital emergency departments next year as in 2008.
The executive is in negotiations with trade unions on work practice reforms across all areas aimed at delivering savings next year.
On Thursday unions rejected a management framework document on work practice changes.
They are due to put forward their own document at a meeting with HSE management on Tuesday.
The HSE submitted a copy of its service plan proposals to Minister for Health Mary Harney earlier this week for approval.
Ms Harney has three weeks to consider the document.