The Government is expected to spend about €1 billion more on the health service next year. The increased spending will be announced when the Estimates are published on Thursday, write Martin Wall and Eithne Donnellan
More than half of the extra money will go on paying staff and much of the remainder will be spent on covering the cost of additional medical cards and a package of measures to alleviate overcrowding in hospital accident and emergency departments.
The Tánaiste and Minister for Health, Ms Harney, is expected to announce, in the context of the Estimates, three special funding packages for improvements in accident and emergency services, for additional services for people with disabilities, and for increasing eligibility for medical cards.
The increased spending on health this year will see the health budget topping €11 billion for the first time. This will represent an increase of over 9 per cent on this year's spend.
Around €600 million of this increased funding will go on meeting increases in pay, pension and increments for the country's 96,000 healthcare staff.
As part of the package promised by the Tánaiste for dealing with the recent crises in accident and emergency departments, there will be money to purchase additional facilities in private nursing homes to allow the transfer of patients from acute beds.
The Tánaiste will also announce the provision of additional MRI scanners for some hospitals, including Beaumont in Dublin. Dr Aidan Gleeson, consultant in emergency medicine at Beaumont, had maintained that delays in accessing MRI and other imaging equipment had led to hold-ups in discharging patients from hospital beds, which in turn contributed to congestion in the accident and emergency department.
The Tánaiste is also expected to announce as part of the financial Estimates a new multi-annual funding programme for the disabled which is likely to allow for the provision of additional therapeutic services such as speech and language and occupational therapy, and respite and emergency care facilities. Such a move was flagged by the Taoiseach at the launch of the new Disability Bill in July.
The Government is also expected to announce the first stage of its long-planned extension of eligibility for medical cards. Ms Harney said recently she wanted more families with young children to become eligible for medical cards.
Some 200,000 additional medical cards were promised by the Government over its five-year term and it has been criticised over its failure to make any progress on this issue over the past two years.
Last month it emerged there were now 100,000 fewer people covered by medical cards than when the current Fianna Fáil/PD coalition was first elected in 1997.
The Department of Health calculates that it would cost an additional €180 million annually to provide an additional 200,000 medical cards.
The announcement of the health spending Estimates on Thursday is also likely to see increases in the rate charged by the Government for private beds in public hospitals. The Government is committed to moving towards charging the full economic rate for such facilities. However, such increases are inevitably passed on by the health insurance companies in higher subscriptions for members.
There may also be increases in charges for attending accident and emergency units.
The Department of Finance has traditionally insisted that such charges - currently €45 - have to be higher than the prevailing rate charged by general practitioners.
A recent nationwide survey found people tended to go to hospital A&E units as it was cheaper than attending their GP.