This article is from page 13 of the 2012-05-29 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 13 JPG
THE Mid Western Hospital group had exceeded its budget by as much as 13 per cent at the end of March, while € 30 million goes uncollected from health insurers.
Ennis and Nenagh general hospitals were breaking even during the first quarter of this year, however the Mid West Maternity Hospital and the Mid Western Regional Hospital Limerick was surpassing all budget alloca- tions, having overspent by € 6,869. This is the largest deficit among hospital groups in the HSE West.
Meanwhile as much as € 20 million has not been collected from health insurance companies due to consultants lack of paper work in the HSE West, with a further delay in the payment of another € 10 million.
Liam Minihan, Assistant National Director of Finance HSE West, said it takes the HSE 145 days to collect its income from these companies. He added that a private company would not survive this practice.
“Insurance companies have slowed down paying us. € 20 million is also waiting for consultant signatures so that it can be processed,” he said.
Mr Minihan explained that the biggest drain on the HSE’s budget was the nursing home Fair Deal programme. The HSE’s nursing homes must have more than 95 per cent occupancy to receive payment from the Government. In total the HSE West was € 26.3 million over budget by the end of March, with the hospital budget over by € 20.4 million and the community sector bursting its budget by € 5.5 million.
The 361 retirees from the HSE West will save the health service € 34 million this year, and travel costs are down by € 300,000 according to the financial expert, with a further € 3 million saved by cutting the agency nurses bill from € 9 million to € 6 million.
Hospitals are already implementing seasonal closing in a bid to cut their spending but a cut to the overall budget at the beginning of the year has put them under serious financial pressure.
Bill Maher, CEO Galway Roscommon Hospital Group, said, “Year on year spending has been reduced, and there was a significant reduction in our allocation this year.
“The money follow patient system has been mentioned for the last five years and that it is always around the corner,” he said adding that such a scheme would make it easier for hospitals to break even.