Galway hospitals run up €11m debt
The two Galway public hospitals were €11m over budget by the end of July, accounting for the largest deficit run up by any hospital in the region.
In an article published in the Saolta hospital group newsletter, acting group chief financial officer Tony Baynes revealed that the hospitals as a whole were nearly €29m in the red, which is €5m worse than the same time last year.
University Hospital Galway (UHG) and Merlin Park Hospital had spent €168.5m until the end of July when they only had earmarked €157m.
Pay costs were the biggest factor in the overspend, with wages accounting for nearly €16m of an overrun.
Agency costs for medical and support services staff increased significantly on 2014. Support services workers – mainly hired to look after patients who required one-on-one care – had jumped by €1.5m in a year.
Cllr Mary Hoade told this week’s Regional Health Forum West meeting that the HSE had stated nationally that 82% of its agency staff budget had been used by the end of May.
Chief officer for Galway Mayo Roscommon community services within the Saolta Hospital Group said they operated a staff budget rather than an agency budget.
The two Galway hospitals had hired 80 staff nurses since the beginning of the year and another 27 had been interviewed in the last month. A further 17 staff nurses were returning from the UK to take up posts in December, he stated.
Mr Baynes revealed that other costs such as drugs, medical supplies and
private ambulances had shot up by €14m over the seven months.
Patient debt was another cause of concern for the group’s finances, with patients across the seven hospitals racking up debts of €77m – up €8.5m since the end of last year.
The only positive element in the books was the €2m hike in group income, he outlined.
However a further €35m in income was stalled due to consultants failing to sign off on claims – a long-running problem for the HSE which was raised at the meeting by the Forum chairman, Cllr Tom McNamara from Clare.
All hospitals in the group – the two in Galway, Letterkenny, Sligo, Mayo, Portiuncla and Roscommon - had experienced a jump in private ambulance use. Some 2,239 trips were paid for in the first five months of this year, an increase of 34%.
Mr Baynes said this was due to a decrease of eleven available ambulances.
In answer to a question by Tuam area Councillor Donagh Killilea (FF), the HSE revealed that 11 ambulance staff had left the service before the age of retirement over four years.
The ambulance base in Tuam had eight staff on duty, which allowed for round-the-clock cover but without relief staff. These were drawn from other crews across the west of Ireland. Approval had been given for a further four staff, which would be recruited over the next 18 months.