This article is from page 4 of the 2013-03-05 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 4 JPG
THE HSE West outlined in its Regional Service Plan for 2013, how it will cut waiting times, increase patients’ safety and provide even more services within a budget cut by € 24.46 million.
Authors of the blueprint for the health services in the region, which includes County Clare, admit that its success depends on a lot of “assumptions”.
The services for the rest of this year must be delivered within a € 1.2 billion budget and within the overall employment control limit of 15,750.
This means staffing levels must be cut by 653 people, or four per cent.
Hospital budgets have received a 10 per cent increase, however there are still what the HSE describe as “serious cost containment measures” required, as the increased budget is less than the outturn costs of the hospitals in 2012.
The € 238.344 million 2013 hospitals budget is an increase of 10 per cent on 2012. However, despite this increase, there remains a substantial financial challenge of € 21.759 million for the year. A financial plan, comprising a variety of cost containment initiatives, is in place to deliver breakeven, according to the HSE.
Ann Doherty, CEO Midwest Region Hospitals Group, said “National cost containment initiatives including legislation to increase income from private patients, in addition to general income maximisation, staffing efficiencies, procurement and stock controls, and HSE funding for oncology drugs are all part of the breakeven plan.”
She admitted, however, “This plan is based on a number of assumptions and like all assumptions there are risks that these assumptions may not be realised, e.g. if our assumptions on income are not realised or demand growth is required to maintain our targets, we will then have to find other measures to address this shortfall,” she warned.
“There is a degree of uncertainty at this point regarding our work force as we do not have good visibility on the impacts of the proposed schemes aimed at reducing headcount and the impacts these will have on our services and financial plan. This will be monitored closely so that remedial action can be taken quickly if required.”
Likewise a further € 3.558 million in non-acute services in the mid west must be saved, which is not accounted for in detail in the plan.
It is predicted that the required expenditure in this area for 2013 is € 308.785 million with an available budget of € 305.227 million equating to approximately 1.15 per cent of a pressure on cost against budget.
“This is on the clear assumption that the costs will be maintained at the quarter three 2012 levels or appropriate alternative adjustments will be made where those costs increase,” the HSE stated.