Hospital funding rise not leading to better results

• Published date: 15 April 2024
• Publication title: Irish Times (Dublin, Ireland)

Donnelly is known for immersing himself in the underlying data regarding an issue. He pointed out the hospital concerned had seen bed numbers rise by 17 per cent since 2016. Consultant staffing had increased by more than 50 per cent and funding by more than 60 per cent

The Minister observed that preliminary data, at the same time, indicated that composite or weighted activity at the hospital had increased by less than 7 per cent.

He said the figures suggested the number of outpatient appointments per consultant had actually fallen from 1,353 in 2016 to 894 in 2022.

Donnelly said given the doctors at the hospital were dedicated and motivated, there was a need to understand what was driving this trend.

It is understood that the Minister has raised similar concerns on other hospital visits. Why were activity levels not keeping pace when the overall health budget had increased from €13.7 billon in 2014 to €22.8 billion in 2024 and more than 50,000 additional healthcare staff had been employed?

The Minister asked officials in the Irish Government Economic Evaluation Service (IGEES) to produce a comprehensive report.

At the same time as Donnelly was highlighting productivity issues with healthcare chiefs, he was arguing with the Department of Public Expenditure over why the health service needed so much additional money.

It is no secret that strong disagreements over spending overruns in the health service continued almost up to budget day in October.Ultimately the health service received about €1.3 billion less than Donnelly had sought.

The HSE has signalled that it will likely need another supplementary estimate this year.

In January, Donnelly established a taskforce to look at generating savings and boosting productivity. The first action plan drawn up by this group will be released today as will the IGEES report.

The findings of the evaluation service report suggests that the problem of activity not rising at the same scale as investment was not only occurring at the hospital...