HSE boss says new work practices needed

New work practices will be needed in the health system to ensure services continue, HSE boss Cathal Magee has warned.

Mr Magee said the delivery of health and social care services was labour intensive, with pay costs ranging from 70% to 90% of total unit costs.

“In view of the increased demand trends of recent years and the realities of the financial and funding constraints, new working paradigms will be required in the health system to ensure the sustainability of services,” he said.

Mr Magee told a meeting of the joint committee on health and children that hospitals represented €106.2m of the €197.3m deficit outlined in the HSE’s April performance report.

Limerick Regional Hospital is €9m over budget, Beaumont Hospital has an €8m budget deficit, and Cork University Hospital is €5m over budget.

Hospitals had already brought forward a combined deficit of €130m from last year.

Mr Magee said the 3% hospital activity reduction target set in January was no longer valid in view of the major increase in demands on hospitals this year.

He said a structural approach over a number of years was needed to take out the deficit built up by hospitals and some of the solutions already under way in some hospitals involved the curtailment of services.

If services were to be protected and not impacted fully by significant funding reductions, new solutions on improving productivity and getting a better return on resources would have to be found.

Mr Magee said the authority would look to outsource services, such as cleaning and security, in cases where the cost was found to be higher than in the private market.

Health Minister James Reilly warned that the HSE was on course for a deficit of up to €500m by the end of the year.

The minister, who also attended the Oireachtas meeting, said the HSE had set out a number of measures to address the emerging financial situation.

Measures include bringing hospital activity levels back in line with targets set out in the national service plan, reducing the use of agency staff and implementing reforms under the Croke Park agreement to achieve more cost-effective use of human resources.