Overspend at hospitals jumps by €3m in month

BY CIARAN TIERNEY

Patients are continuing to languish on trolleys at University Hospital Galway (UHG) each night while the budget deficit at the city’s two public hospitals continues to spiral at a rate of €3 million per month.

A meeting in Dublin on Wednesday heard that UHG and Merlin Park had gone to €12m over budget in September, the latest month for which figures are available, and a full €3m worse than the corresponding figure for the month of August.

Health Service Executive (West) officials were told that there was “no good news” in terms of funding and hospital management have instead been told to pursue private health insurers for outstanding fees due to the two hospitals.

“The over-spend at the two hospitals has gone from €9m to €12m in just a month and there are going to be major difficulties in reaching targets for the year,” said Cllr Padraig Conneely (FG), the Chairman of the HSE (West) Regional Forum.

“Management have been told that there is no more money available and they’ve been told to try to get the money which is outstanding from private health insurers, which is said to be in the region of €18 million. Because of the huge overcrowding in Galway, public patients are continuing to be put into private beds which results in a loss of revenue.”

Figures released by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) show that there were 50 patients on trolleys overnight at UHG on Tuesday night of this week, 47 on Wednesday of last week and 46 last Thursday.

Just last month, UHG and Merlin Park were labelled the worst performing hospitals in the country following the release of national statistics for 29 facilities nationwide from the HSE.

And last week the IMPACT trade union vowed not to cooperate with the appointment of a new CEO for the public hospitals in Galway and Roscommon, in the wake of plans to hire a private company to recruit senior staff for the three facilities.

The Medical Board of Galway University Hospitals has written to the Galway City Tribune this week to clarify that expenditure has been reduced by over €35 million over the past two years, while staff levels have fallen by 270 at the two hospitals.

“Overall GUH is the busiest single hospital site in the country, seeing more inpatients, outpatients and emergencies than any other hospital. This is resulting in significant pressure on the institution with problems particularly in the emergency department,” said the three senior members of the Medical Board.

For more on this story, see the Galway City Tribune.