ONE OF THE country’s largest hospitals, the Mater in Dublin, is putting in place cost-containment measures aimed at avoiding a projected deficit of € 10-€12 million by the end of the year, it has emerged.
The university hospital yesterday confirmed the measures, with a spokesman for the Mater saying “the hospital would be hoping to reduce the deficit to single digits and hopefully have a balanced budget by year end”.
The spokesman was commenting on the hospital’s annual accounts for 2010 just lodged with the Companies Office, which confirmed a potential deficit of €17 million this year “if existing service and expenditure levels are to be maintained”.
The accounts were lodged in recent days, but were signed off by the hospital board on May 24th.
In respect of the then projected €17 million deficit, a note to the accounts stated that “cost-containment measures have been actioned and discussions are ongoing with the HSE and other interested parties in respect of these difficulties with a view to minimising any potential deficit”.
The spokesman pointed out that the HSE allocation for the hospital is €210 million for 2011, and this compares with €248 million in 2009 – a drop of 15 per cent in two years.
“Activity levels at the hospital are up 4-5 per cent this year, and that would be similar to last years increase. So while activity levels are going up, budgets are going down.”
The spokesman said the hospital is seeking to reduce the projected €10-€12 million deficit in three different ways.
The hospital has 600 beds, and the spokesman said the number of private beds is to be increased from 44 to 59, which will result in an increase in income. He said the private beds have been reassigned from another Dublin hospital.
The spokesman added that savings were being made through the HSE’s National Procurement Initiative, while savings will also be made through reduced spend on agency nurses, security and cleaning.
Last year the hospital recorded a deficit of €1.8 million.
The hospital’s total spend last year was €271 million, and its biggest outlay was the €188 million spent on payroll and related costs.
The figures show that the numbers employed at the hospital last year dropped from 2,610 to 2,521.
The largest number of job reductions was in nursing, with numbers reduced from 1,203 to 1,108 – an 8 per cent reduction. Meanwhile, job increases were recorded in the medical, dental and paramedic areas, while the numbers employed in management and administration dropped by just five, from 391 to 386.
The figures show that remuneration for executive directors increased from €669,000 to €986,000.
The directors’ report for the hospital stated that the hospital treated more than 54,000 inpatient and day cases – significantly more than the HSE Service Level Agreement, while 48,000 patients attended the hospital’s emergency department – a 7 per cent increase on 2009 levels.
The report states: Treatment times for emergency patients not requiring admission still remain unacceptably high. In response to these challenges, the hospital opened a Rapid Injuries Clinic in Smithfield in April 2010.
“This had an immediate effect on Emergency Department waiting times and a marked improvement in waiting time performance, particularly for those patients not requiring admissions was evident by the end of the year.”
