'Get a grip' on budgets, hospitals warned

The Health Minister has warned hospital managers to "get a grip" on their budgets.

Leo Varadkar revealed in the Dáil that in January and February this year our hospitals spent more money and hired more staff - but saw fewer patients.

Hospitals have a budget of four billion euro for this year, with almost another billion coming from insurers - but over-spending in the first two months could see a bailout needed before the end of year.

Minister Varadkar said hospitals need to treat patients, but live within their means doing so.

"The number of people attending emergency departments went down in January. The number of elective admissions went down," he told the Dáil.

"So what happened I January and February is that hospitals hired more staff, spent more money and saw fewer patients. And that's not an acceptable situation.

"It's very important that hospital managers and chief financial officers understand that and get a grip on that over the next few months."

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