The Health Service Executive (HSE) is to get a supplementary budget of €199 million subject to Government approval, the Minister for Health Dr James Reilly has confirmed.
Dr Reilly said a budget overrun of approximately 1.5 per cent was a “great result” in the context of increased activity of 2 per cent in health this year with a smaller number of staff.
He believed it was a “great reflection of the new control that exists in the HSE” that a budget of €13 billion would be exceeded by less than €200 million.
He said the €200 million figure would have been less if they had not deferred health insurance payments worth €60 million until next year.
The HSE will now know by the end of January if there is an overrun. In previous years it would not be apparent until four to five months into the New Year.
He expressed confidence that the supplementary budget will be granted by the Dáil.
The HSE service plan for next year is now with the Minister’s department who has until next Monday to publish it or to send it back for further adjustments.
He warned that the challenge for next year will be “very, very serious” and not everything that should be done in health will be done.
“ We’re working very hard with our colleagues in Government to try and come up with a mechanism to address that,” he said.
“The last thing I will do as a Minister of Health and a doctor is disassemble our health service which has made extraordinary strides in the last two and a half years.
“The people working in it have done extraordinary things with 10 per cent less staff and 20 per cent less of a budget. They’ve not just kept it safe, they’ve made it better.”
The Minister expressed disapproval of the decision of former Central Remedial Clinic chief executive Brian Conlon not to give evidence to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) today.
Dr Reilly appealed to the public to continue supporting charities despite the controversies surrounding the CRC.
“I have spoken to a number of people in different charities and they all say that they are down. I would encourage people not to be put off by what has come out of one particular area of investigation,” he said.
Dr Reilly was speaking after launching the second national clinical guidance for the prevention and control of ethicllin-resistant staphyloccous aureus (MRSA).
It provides practical guidance on prevention and control measures for MRSA to improve patient care, minimise patient morbidity and mortality and to help contain healthcare costs.
Hospital acquired infections occur between one in 10 and one in 20 patients and often to those who are sickest.
The number of MRSA related infections have reduced by 50 per cent since 2006, but it has to be brought down to levels more compatible with those in the UK and other European countries.
