Underspending health boards rebuked

UNDERSPENDING health board bosses were accused yesterday of passing the blame on to the Department of Health for their failure to manage finances properly.

Appearing before an inquiry watchdog committee in Leinster House, the chief executives of three health boards the Mid- Western HB, South-Eastern HB and the Western HB attributed their multi-million budget surpluses to the need for an emergency fund for end-of-year crises.

But Oireachtas health committee member Batt O'Keeffe rebuked the health board managers as he described the underspend as extraordinary.

Pointing out that the Department of Health had allocated additional funding, Mr O'Keeffe also said all other health boards managed to break even.

"Is this pass the parcel day?" he asked. "In effect you are saying that given the make-up of the extra allocations, it is impossible for you to manage your affairs," he added.

Considering the intense public scrutiny of the health service, the underspend was regarded as a concern by the Department of Health.

Stating that his health board had expressed satisfaction with the financial management, SEHB chief executive Pat McLaughlin said it was absolutely prudent to have a contingency fund as the health and social services sector could be unpredictable.

"Often November and December are months of severe pressure," he said.

MWHB chief executive Stiofáin de Búrca said the buck stops with management for financial affairs.

After complaining in 2002 that it would have to cut services due to inadequate resources, the Western Health Board chalked up a budget surplus of e16m for 2002 and 2003.

But WHB chief executive Dr Mary Hynes said that the e9m credit balance from 2003 was primarily due to recruitment delays.

Added to the e7m carried over from 2002, she said the board had set aside e16m for contingency in 2004.

"If we didn't have a credit balance we would be in a difficult position," she said.

In the coming weeks, Minister for Health Micheál Martin and Dept of Health officials are to appear before the committee to give their version of events.