THE HEALTH services received around €100 million less in funding for “priority” developments this year than the Department of Health proposed in negotiations with the Department of Finance in the run-up to the budget last December.
A briefing note drawn up for Minister for Health Mary Harney in advance of a bi-lateral meeting with the Department of Finance prior to Budget day reveals that health service officials had set out a package of priority developments to the value of €444 million.
The Department of Health itself and the Office of the Minister for Children had sought additional priority projects worth a further €70 million.
However, the briefing note warned the Minister that, overall, these proposed measures would require a total increase of €1.647 billion for the health service group of votes covering the HSE, the Department of Health and the Office of the Minister for Children.
It said that this would represent an increase of 11.8 per cent and was “not sustainable in the context of Government policy in relation to the Budget arithmetic”.
On Budget day the Government announced an additional €344 million in current spending and a further €52 million in capital expenditure on new developments.
Under changes introduced by the Government last year, spending on all new developments was announced in the Budget with the book of estimates (which is published several weeks beforehand) covering only the updated cost of continuing to provide the existing level of services.
The briefing note would suggest that priority areas which lost out on funding in the negotiations between the Department of Health and the Department of Finance were acute hospitals and the introduction of new immunisation services.
The Department of Health had suggested that an additional €45 million should go towards the acute hospital sector to cover developments in ambulance, AE, neurosciences, renal, cystic fibrosis, cochlear and maternity services.
It said that the €45 million figure “was the minimum to meet a range of needs and does not include anything for new units”.
The Department of Health had proposed spending €84 million in total on disability services – although this was not listed as a top priority issue – while in the end an investment of €50 million was announced in the Budget.
A €35 million investment in cancer services, which the Department of Health had considered as a top priority, was contained in the Budget day announcement by the Government.
In the briefing note, Department officials told Ms Harney that around €165 million was needed to spend on “inescapable” items such as the “Fair Deal” scheme for meeting the cost of long-term care and for which €110 million was earmarked.
Details of the negotiations on the development funding for this year have emerged just as the health service is considering new cost containment measures to allow it to live within its allocation.
The HSE has said that it is facing a €300 million “challenge” this year.
