Hospital budgets cut by €9.37m over inefficiencies
The biggest losers were Mayo General Hospital, which has been fined €1.24m, and Our Lady’s Hospital, Navan, which has seen its 2006 budget cut by €1.06m. General Manager at Mayo General Mr Tony Canavan said the result was disappointing but predictable. “Many of the costs associated with the new orthopaedic service, including equipping and staffing, hit the budget at MGH that year (2004). However, the associated inpatient activity didn’t really commence until 2005.”
Mr Canavan said the fine “will not impact negatively on any of our planned service developments in 2006.”
Third worst on the list of offenders was the Mid Western Regional Hospital in Limerick, which will see €1.03m shaved off its budget for 2006. A spokesperson for Limerick Regional said: “We have to put our hands up and say that we have problems ... in relation to staffing difficulties which we are trying to resolve.” However the spokesperson also criticised Casemix as “a fairly crude instrument.”
“Major variations exist between hospitals in terms of costs, activities and function. Under Casemix large 450 bed hospitals are compared with small 100-bed general hospitals. This operates to the disadvantage of the Mid-Western Regional Hospital.”
Fine Gael health spokesperson Dr Liam Twomey agreed Casemix was “crude” but said it was necessary given it was the only qualitative study of work carried out in our hospitals.
Casemix figures for 2004, released yesterday, show Cork University Hospital was the best performer that year, adding €1.935m to its 2006 budget. A spokesperson for the hospital said: “This year’s Casemix money will be utilised to buy a new radiology pacs system, which will improve transmission of patient images between medical staff.”
Letterkenny General Hospital fell from first to sixth place this year, mainly due to cancellation of elective surgery because of bed pressures.
