HSE spent ¤138m on agency staff, and funds almost gone Elderly man spends five days on trolley
THE HSE had spent more than 80 per cent of its agency staff budget by the end of May, new figures show, sparking fears for patient services over the winter months.
Official figures from the HSE show i t had spent €138million of its €164.94million budget for agency staff, such as nurses and doctors, in the first five months of the year. This left it with just €27million for the rest of the year.
Fianna Fáil’s health spokesman Billy Kelleher, who requested the i nformation, said it showed that serious problems were being stored up for the health service in the coming winter months.
Mr Kelleher said spending 82 per cent of the agency budget in the first five months of the year was an ‘extremely large portion of a critical budget to be gone before half the year was over’.
He added: ‘The HSE is clearly burning through cash to try to keep the service ticking over. This highlights the fact that the budget for the health service is just not grounded in reality.
‘If we’re at this point now, I have very real concerns about the winter months ahead. We know the HSE will run out of money before the year is out and will need another massive cash injection, which will only increase pressure to constrain costs.’
The HSE’s corporate finance general manager, John Leech, said in his written response to Mr Kelleher that delayed discharge – patients being stuck in hospital because there is no alternative care, such as nursing home beds – was part of the reason for the agency staff spend.
‘A large portion of the €74million plan to ease emergency department overcrowding was targeted at providing funding for nursing home places for people stuck in hospital who no longer needed to be there,’ he wrote.
But despite the cash injection, overcrowding has persisted.
‘The HSE will run out of money’
Nurses’ union the INMO has said overcrowding is now at ‘dangerous’ levels. It gave the example of Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda, where 40 patients who needed a hospital bed were on trolleys in its emergency departments, with a further eight patients on wards.
The INMO said: ‘One elderly patient has been on a trolley for the last five days in the emergency department, awaiting a bed, and several patients are on their fourth day of waiting.’
The HSE is trying to recruit additional nurses.
Mr Leech said medical staff – the area which accounts for more than a third of agency cost – is where the HSE is under the greatest pressure.
He added that ‘premium cost is highest’ for doctors and the ‘inability to attract and retain’ doctors – as opposed to any approval or funding issue – was the key issue.
A breakdown of figures shows the HSE spent €46million on medical and dental staff in the first five months of the year and a further €41million on nurses.
The remainder went on care assistants, porters and allied health professionals, such as paramedics.
The HSE’s budget overall budget overrun is expected to top €500million this year.
The HSE is seeking an extra €1.9billion for its budget next year. But both Minister for Public Expenditure Brendan Howlin and Health Minister Leo Varadkar have described the requested sum as ‘unrealistic’.