HEALTH SERVICE managers in Dublin and the North East have proposed introducing a waiting list for services for pregnant women and newborn infants, capping access to immunisation schemes and scaling back services for sexual abuse victims as part of a draft cost-saving strategy.
A confidential submission sent last week by managers in the HSE Dublin North East to the organisation’s corporate headquarters warns if it did not get approval for its new overall blueprint for cutting costs in the region, even more contentious measures such as the full closure of hospitals and the shutting down of significant numbers of wards would have to be considered.
It says that hospitals which could face total closure, in such an eventuality, are Monaghan hospital and Louth County Hospital in Dundalk. It also warns that the elective orthopaedic unit in Navan could be shut down as could “significant additional wards” in the Mater, Beaumont and Connolly hospitals in Dublin.
The internal draft report says the Dublin North East area of the HSE is facing a potential deficit for the year of more than €50 million even when existing cost-saving measures are taken into account.
It sets out additional cost-cutting proposals, some of which involve schemes which operate on a national basis while others relate to locally provided services.
Among the national services it is suggests could be cut are the maternity and infant scheme, which provides for care by GPs and obstetricians for all expectant mothers and their babies immediately prior to and after birth, as well as immunisation services.
The HSE Dublin North East said last night that the document submitted last week represented a draft report and should be viewed as a work-in-progress which formed part of an ongoing deliberative process.
“It is very clear that this draft work-in-progress report is setting out a break-even path which while involving some service impacts to achieve substantial break even (full break even on a vote basis) is in line with approaches in previous years and is very definitely seeking to minimise service impacts.”
It said that the reference to the three “radical” alternative proposals of hospital or ward closures made clear that these were not being proposed in the draft document but rather were examples “of the types of things that may have to be considered if some version of what is being proposed is not put in place”.
All four regions in the HSE have been asked to set out proposals for dealing with financial difficulties in their areas. All proposals will be considered by senior HSE management corporately and more than likely by the Minister for Health James Reilly before final approval for cutbacks is given. It is not unknown in the health service for highly controversial proposals to be submitted for tactical reasons as part of such exercises.