HSE West facilities face ‘streamlining’ in bid to cut costs

DIRECTOR of operations at the Health Service Executive (HSE) west area has warned of a proposed streamlining of facilities in the region.

John Hennessy claimed: “There are too many health facilities in the west and we are going to have to rationalise and streamline them.”

On top of its acute hospital network stretching from Limerick to Donegal, there are 43 residential facilities scattered across the region, including Clare and north Tipperary.

Mr Hennessy said: “It is a big burden on the cost, efficiency and scale of maintaining infrastructure like that — it is a huge challenge.

“I don’t see closures. That is not what we are about. We serve a wide disparate area in terms of geography but whether the facilities would continue to operate on the same level and same scale is the question for us,” he said.

The senior HSE official said the landscape has changed in relation to choice for patients for access to long-stay care.

His comments came as the HSE’s assistant national director for finance, Liam Minihan, confirmed the HSE West will be seeking cost-cutting measures totalling €33 million before the year end.

This is in order to bridge a €49m shortfall identified at the end of July, made up of a €46.3m hospital deficit and €3m deficit in primary community continuing care (PCCC).

The figures show the Mid-Western Regional Hospital was €16.2m, or 20%, over budget for the first seven months of the year, with Galway University Hospital over-budget by €9.9m or 6%.

Furthermore, €33m in cost-containment measures will be sought to secure national/ local procurement savings of €15.8m for the remainder of the year.

Mr Minihan said the savings will be made in the hospitals and each county through addressing overtime, agency recruitment, absenteeism costs and seasonal closures.