HSE made cuts of €2.7bn during recession

Ireland’s health service is being forced to “do less with less” after suffering a massive €2.7bn worth of cuts since the recession commenced.

The figure emerges in a new study examining the reality of dwindling HSE budgets, cost-saving initiatives and “probity” drives on frontline patient care.

Conducted by Trinity College researchers under a Health Research Board grant, the three-year study found since the economic crisis began, the eye-catching fortune has been slashed from the system, forcing officials to focus on keeping services running rather than “headline priorities in the Programme for Government”.