HSE North East €9.7m in red

PLANS by the Health Service Executive (HSE) North East to implement a series of cost-cutting measures will impact patient care, a senior health manager has warned.

The report by Chris Lyons, a network manager in the HSE area outlined areas where savings can be made to offset a projected budget overrun of €9.7 million.

These include:

Redirecting 600,000 allocated for support services to one of the consultant oncologists in the Lourdes Hospital to bridge the deficit. This would effectively put oncology services on hold.

Introducing a ban on recruitment for new posts and reviewing all current vacancies.

Reducing the number of agency nurses used in the five acute hospitals.

However, the report warns of the serious implications of delaying the development of oncology or cancer services in the Lourdes Hospital, which has the region’s only one-stop breast care clinic.

“There are serious workload issues due to increased activity in the service over the past five years.

Patient safety could be compromised if current arrangements are not further developed,” Mr Lyons said.

He also said if management went ahead with the cost-cutting measures they could face possible staff unrest and any cutbacks in oncology services would mean patients requiring chemotherapy would have to travel to Dublin.

The “embarrassment” that the HSE could suffer if they cut back on badly-needed refurbishment and expansion of A&E services, also at the Lourdes Hospital, is identified by Mr Lyons as one of the implications of not going ahead with the development.

The report said: “The current A&E department is overrun and the A&E development is essential to ensure continuity of service provision in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital...to delay this development would compromise patient safety based on the known risks of the current department.”

The report said savings of €200,000 could be made at renal dialysis care at Cavan General Hospital. However, it warned cutting back on the service would lead to increased waiting lists, with patients having to travel to Dublin for treatment.

The Irish Nurses’ Organisation (INO) called for the HSE to clarify what the planned cutbacks were.

INO spokesman Tony Fitzpatrick said there should be no impact on front line staff or services. Not to utilise agency nurses will impact on the already overstretched nurses in the north-east and the patients and patient care, he said.

In a statement, the HSE said management was examining the options on how to operate on current funding.

“This is in line with the HSE’s commitment to prudent financial management and the delivery of value for money and the best possible service for patients. This examination is being carried out in conjunction with the HSE North East Hospitals Network and includes a review of historic cost and funding levels at the hospitals. The clear focus of the reviews is to identify options that can assist with achieving financial break-even without impacting existing services.”