Kenny blames health overspend on ‘incompetence’ or ‘mismanagement’

TAOISEACH Enda Kenny has accused hospitals of either “incompetence” or “mismanagement” after a HSE report showed they were €120 million over budget less than halfway through the year.

Mr Kenny said the HSE could not allow a situation to continue where “year after year, budgets are allocated to hospitals, hospitals sign on for those budgets and hospitals sign on to deliver services based on those budgets and halfway through the year you find that they are completely out of control”.

Mr Kenny warned that Health Minister James Reilly had “already made it clear that there is no more money to be allocated because there is no more available”.