An extra €9bn needed for health: Tough warning we can’t ignore

WERE he alive, the extremely influential civil servant TK Whitaker, who died aged 100 just last week, would certainly have an opinion on the weekend assertion by HSE chief Tony O’Brien that we will need, over the next decade, to spend an extra €9bn on our health services to end hospital over-crowding.

One of Whitaker’s enduring principles, one he shared with any government minister he felt would benefit from his guidance, was “don’t spend money you don’t have.”

How that mantra might stand against the growing demands, and expectations, placed on our health service is anyone’s guess, but political expediency, not to mention growing social need, may trump that in-an-ideal-world advice. Mr O’Brien’s assessment is as sobering as it is challenging but it cannot be ignored.