‘No money’ for health services reconfiguration

THE Health Service Executive’s assistant national director for finance, Liam Minihan, has stated that there is no more money available for the reconfiguration of health services in the mid-west.

At the HSE West Forum, Mr Minihan told members: “There is no more money for reconfiguration. It’s gone off the agenda.”

The reconfiguration process is not yet complete and in response Councillor Ger Fahy (FG) said: “I can’t believe what I have just heard. I am disappointed and very concerned. There is enough pressure on front-line staff and now there will be even more on very limited resources.

The Limerick city councillor added: “No budget for reconfiguration explains why the necessary resources are not being put into it. Reconfiguration is a backward step.”

The costs of the reconfiguration, which has resulted in the closure of 24-hour A&E services in Ennis and Nenagh with the services now centralised at Limerick’s Regional Hospital have contributed to the region having the largest over run in the HSE West area this year.

The region exceeded its budget by €34 million this year, with the mid-west accounting for €16.5 million of this.

Regional Director of Operations for HSE West John Hennessy said: “It is not a backward step, but is posing financial pressures. The health service is now far more sustainable that it was three years ago.

“There has been a substantial enhancement to consultant staff and ambulance staff. There is also the development of a critical care block. That is a huge enhancement when very little has been happening in capital projects in the HSE.”

Mr Hennessy said: “There is a price to be paid for reconfiguration and we are paying it and that is posing a huge difficulty for the mid-west and the west region.”

Industrial Officer with the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation Mary Fogarty said: “We have not been officially notified that there is no more funding for reconfiguration, but I am not surprised.

“It will be a real patchwork quilt with some services being centralised and others that haven’t been, so the reconfiguration process isn’t going to be financed as it was intended.”