Frontline services to suffer in HSE cutbacks

Frontline services and patients are set to suffer as a further €721m is shaved from this year’s health budget, the HSE has admitted.

The agency plans to save the money by cutting up to 4,000 jobs, reducing access to GP services and putting elderly people on nursing home waiting lists until beds are “vacated”.

Under the plan, 40,000 people will also lose medical cards due to income eligibility changes, while €60m more than was stated in the December budget will be cut from primary care.

The changes were detailed in the HSE’s national service plan — effectively its budget for this year — yesterday.

The plan means that since the recession began €3.3bn and 11,268 staff have been cut from the health service.

While the document tries to accentuate the positives, it said “it will be impossible to avoid an impact on frontline service delivery” this year.

Health Minister James Reilly defended the latest cuts, claiming: “The lesson of the last two years in health services is clear. We have the capacity to maintain safe services and improve services even though funding levels have to fall.”

However, under the plan:

*Elderly people will be put on waiting lists for nursing home care. The report said: “It is anticipated that a placement list will be in operation and new places offered as funding becomes available”;

*Hospitals have been warned to only use agency nurses in extreme cases, with a graduate nursing plan filling some service gaps;

*A further €60m has been cut from primary care, bringing the overall budget down to €323m. This will impact on the availability of some free drugs under existing schemes, and GP access, if a patient’s condition is not considered a priority.

There is some positive news, although many of these moves are subject to still unagreed changes.

Among the positive steps are €17m in extra funds for cancer drugs, and changes to how hospitals are funded, based on giving money for expected work in the year rather than historical levels.

Home help services have not been cut further, while new targets for patient treatment have been drawn-up.

The report said that by Jan 2014 no child will wait more than five months for elective surgery; no adult more than eight months; no outpatient more than a year; and that 95% of emergency department patients will be sent home or treated within six hours of registration.

However, the nursing home waiting lists have caused a furious reaction from patients. Age Action Ireland spokesman Eamon Timmins said: “In layman’s terms, this [waiting list] may mean that older people who are sick, frail and no longer able to live at home will be left waiting for somebody to vacate a nursing home bed before they can receive the care they need.”

Medical unions will voice concerns over the “worst fears” cuts when they meet the HSE today.