Health budget deficit accelerating as Government avoids honest conversation
Health budget deficit accelerating as Government avoids honest conversation - The Labour Party
- HSE on course for deficit of close to €1 billion by year end
- Government must be honest about the true cost of delivering health services
- Major hospitals still without agreed 2026 service level agreements
Labour Health spokesperson Marie Sherlock TD has called on the Government to have an honest conversation about the true cost of running Ireland’s health service, as the HSE heads towards a deficit of close to €1 billion this year.
Deputy Sherlock said:
“It is deeply alarming that our health service is on course to record a deficit of close to €1 billion this year.
“Despite reassurances that the deficit was stabilising, the rate at which it is growing actually accelerated in June and July, even after extraordinary measures were introduced to slow spending.
“The HSE was reduced to issuing a diktat on 19 June requiring all invoices over €10,000 to be sent for approval to the CEO. No efficient, self-respecting medium-sized company would operate like that, never mind an organisation responsible for a €29 billion budget.
“At the heart of this is a dangerous strategy pursued by the Departments of Public Expenditure and Health, which have repeatedly provided unrealistic allocations to the HSE over the past four years.
“Despite a direction from the Minister that all service level agreements be signed off by February, some of the biggest hospitals in the State have still not agreed their 2026 budgets. That is beyond ridiculous.
“These hospitals are being offered less than they spent last year while being expected to cope with a 6% to 7% increase in patient demand. That simply does not add up.
“The Minister is right to focus on improving productivity, but productivity cannot be treated as a substitute for properly funding rising demand. Improving patient flow across seven days requires beds, diagnostics and sufficient support staff. Better productivity in a health service dealing with rapidly increasing demand does not automatically mean lower spending.
“We are also paying an enormous price for the failure to tackle delayed transfers of care. They are costing acute hospitals more than €20 million every month, yet we have seen nowhere near the urgency required from Government.
“Since March, there have been 164 days when more than 500 patients have experienced a delayed transfer of care, with the consequences felt throughout overcrowded hospitals. The situation is worsening before we have even entered the winter flu season.
“The Department needs to get its act together. Year after year, the HSE is forced into emergency cost-cutting measures and supplementary estimates because Government budgets fail to reflect rising demand, the increasing complexity of care associated with demographic change, and the real cost of delivering services.
“We cannot keep budgeting for a health service that exists only on a Departmental spreadsheet. The Minister for Health and the Minister for Public Expenditure must use Budget 2027 to finally put health funding on a realistic and sustainable footing. Patients and healthcare workers deserve a health budget based on reality, not wishful thinking.”