HSE was €55m over budget in February

The HSE was running almost €55m over budget at the end of February, new figures show.

The deficit is €15m more than the corresponding period last year when the health authority was more than €40m over budget.

The national performance report for February showed that nearly €40m of the deficit was within the acute hospital sector.

Hospitals in the West-North West (€8.9m) and the University of Limerick Hospital group (€4.8m) continue to have budget overruns.

Pay expenditure is over budget in both hospital groups mainly as a result of agency costs relating to non-consultant hospital doctors.

Agency costs in relation to these have more than doubled, according to the report — €16.17m over the 12-month period to February, compared to €7.43m in the same period last year.

While spending on agency nurses has been falling since it peaked last December, it is still too early to say it was a continuing trend.

The health authority, which has a budget of €1.9bn, says it is continuing to drive efficiencies through the Haddington Road Agreement in a bid to cut agency and overtime costs.

It warns, however, that the acute hospital system is facing “a challenging year” with a legacy deficit of €56.5m as a result of not achieving cost containment plans last year.

The report also highlights a deficit in community services of €16.98m, attributing this to budget overruns in disability services, (€7.42m); older people (€4.83) and local schemes (€6.28m).

Some 1,826,578 people had a medical card in February, 14,182 fewer than in the previous month. Just over 50,000 of the cards were granted on a discretionary basis.

Nearly 40% of the population had full medical cards last February.