Health boards reeling from €1m cost of vomiting bug

The winter vomiting bug is devastating the finances of the country's health boards, having already cost about €1 million per board, says the Department of Health.

The department says boards are seeking emergency funding to make up for unexpected shortfalls caused by dealing with the virus. Costs have spiralled in terms of lost revenue from operations, extra security and disease eradication procedures. Also, hospitals unaffected by the bug have had to struggle to accommodate the spill-over from units closed by the bug in other hospitals. The situation in Dublin's Beaumont Hospital, where there have been 100 outbreaks this autumn, stabilised this week. But the bug continues to spread through Dublin and Waterford.

At St James' Hospital in Dublin 16 people are in quarantine with what is believed to be the bug; six cases have been confirmed. There are a handful of unconfirmed cases in Tallaght Hospital and two suspected cases at St Vincent's.

The South Eastern Health Board (SEHB) confirmed it has dealt with 315 cases since the latest outbreak in August.

Hospitals in Kilkenny, Waterford and Tipperary have all been closed to various procedures at times over the past year because of the bug.

In Waterford 25 people - 19 patients and six staff - have been struck.

Outbreaks and re-occurences of the winter vomiting virus have cost SEHB hospitals €636,000 so far this year. The figure for the region does not include the cost of the latest outbreak in Waterford. Tests on patients and staff are due back today and are expected to confirm the outbreak is the highly contagious virus.

Add to the bug's impact soaring insurance costs which have pushed the SEHB €536,000 deeper into the red. The board's overall debt to the end of July totalled €4.969m.

The SEHB has already been forced to tighten its purse strings and has frozen 60 vacancies because of its ongoing budget deficit.

The board has suspended all 'discretionary spending' and will be forced to review its development plan if additional finance is not made available from the Government soon.

Latest figures for the board show that to the end of July of this year, it was in debt to the tune of €4.969 million.

Dr Marie Laffoy of the Eastern Regional Health Authority said the winter vomiting bug spreads quickly.

She said hospitals have been particularly hard hit as patients there are more prone to picking up bugs because they are run-down.

She urged anyone with the bug not to visit a hospital and, instead, to see a local GP.