HSE’s million a week - Patience strained

THE Health Service Executive is a relatively new organisation that has had to deal with a series of scandals rooted in the legacy it inherited from the politically influenced health boards it replaced.

The HSE has not always been as convincing as it, or we, might wish but at least it is trying to modernise our health service and make it more efficient. Despite these difficulties, as well as policy and philosophical differences, many people were prepared to wait and see if the required reform would materialise.

That patience has often been stretched and will be further stretched by today’s news that HSE management and administration costs have jumped by €95m in just two years. More or less a million a week. HSE figures also show that in the same period, management and administrative staff increased by 926.

In a relatively small country these figures are hard to understand and, when taken in conjunction with last week’s cancer reports, represent another challenge to the organisation’s credibility and the patience of everyone waiting and hoping for reform.