Hospital beds to close in bid to cut Û8.7m overspend

Date Published: {J}

By Dara Bradley

The HSE West may be forced to close more beds and wards at Galway University Hospitals later this year, which will add to patient waiting lists, as it attempts to rein-in a budget overspend. GUH, comprising Merlin Park and UHG in Newcastle, has an annual budget of almost €246 million.

The latest report from the HSE over the weekend revealed that the two Galway hospitals had overspent their budget by nearly €8.7 million by May of this year – it will need to take corrective action, possibly by cutting back on frontline services, in order to ‘break even’ in 2011.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny was quoted over the weekend as blaming mismanagement for the national cumulative overspend of €120 million to the end of May at the country’s hospital.

He added: “The Minister for Health has already made it clear that there is no more money to be allocated to (hospitals to bridge the overspend) because there is none available”.

With national funding drying up, the hospitals must cut back on expenditure in order to keep within their budgets.

HSE West Forum member, City Councillor Catherine Connolly (Ind), said the narrow narrative of budgets that constantly surrounds the issue of hospitals is wrong and misleading. She said the problem in Galway’s hospitals is a lack of resources and an embargo on recruitment – budget overspend is only a sideshow.

“They are hospitals, not businesses,” said Cllr Connolly.

She added: “This is a resources issue and I wish the Government and Cllr Pádraig Conneely (Chairperson of the Regional Forum West), would stop talking about budgets and how budgets needed to be balanced. The hospitals need more resources and the embargo that is in place since 2000 needs to be lifted. There are already theatres closed, wards closed and beds closed at the hospitals and more will close if the HSE brings in cutbacks to balance the books.  

“Dr David O’Keeffe (Clinical Director of GUH) has said it twice, and said it very bluntly in the past two Forum meetings that he cannot improve the situation at UHG because of a lack of resources.”