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Updated: 4.40pm
LEO VARADKAR HAS welcomed the fact that 2015 will see the first increase in the HSE’s budget for seven years.
The Health Minister was speaking at the launch of the HSE’s service plan for 2015, which took place in Dublin this afternoon.
Varadkar said he doesn’t often quote scripture, but thought one particular passage seemed appropriate for today, namely: Luke 9:16.
“The parable of the loaves and fishes: that’s what we’ve tried to do, feed the 5,000.”
Varadkar said he didn’t want to “overpromise” what the HSE could do next year, noting that issues such as waiting lists and late discharges will be eased but not eliminated.
He described the health service as “very battered and very bruised”, adding this plan was the “first step in nursing our health service back to health”.
In 2015 the HSE will have an extra €115 million in funding, compared to this year.
A further €3 million will be spent next month to address delayed discharges. Varadkar was quick to point out that this is separate to the €25 million outlined above. “It’s €28 million altogether, not €22 million – I’m not trying to pull a fast one.”
HSE chief Tony O’Brien welcomed what he described as a “modest” increase in the body’s funding.
He said the increase would led to a “challenging but realistic” budget.
Junior Minister Kathleen Lynch also welcomed the measures outlined in the plan, stating:
We won’t be losing the run of ourselves but it does give us a degree of comfort.
Lynch noted that the mental health sector has struggled to fill vacancies, despite opening up the recruitment process to Europe. She said this was an issue that needed to be seriously looked at.
She added that background work on introducing free GP care for under-6s and over-70s was “well under way”.
Varadkar said that there would be a €15 million increase in funding to develop the HSE’s ICT system, which he described as “woefully underfunded” and “not in the 21st century”.
O’Brien noted that a “scorecard system” would be introduced to ensure managers met their targets on a monthly basis. If this happens repeatedly, sanctions will occur, where the worst-case scenario for a manager would be them being subject to the disciplinary process.
The HSE is expected to overrun its budget by €550 million this year. Varadkar said he couldn’t rule out an overrun in 2015. If it does occur, the money will be a ”first charge” on HSE’s budget for 2016, under new rules being brought in next year.
Reaction
Liam Doran, General Secretary of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Association, said the the service plan was “more focused and realistic” than in previous years.
However, he added: “It simply provides for an overstretched, overworked and under resourced health service to continue managing crises every day. Faced with this reality the health service requires additional resources.
The Disability Federation of Ireland (DFI) welcomed the allocation of an extra €20 million to disability services, but said the plan doesn’t go far enough.
John Dolan, CEO of DFI, said the money “doesn’t even start to plug the gaping hole that has been left by cuts of €159 million since 2008″.
“The demand for disability services is continuing to increase with our aging population and people with disabilities living longer. Over 4,000 people are diagnosed with Alzheimer’s every year, one person a week will sustain a spinal cord injury.
“This modest investment will be quickly subsumed by the increasing demand on disability services and will not allow for services to be advanced,” Dolan stated.
Following the publication, the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) warned of a “very difficult year” ahead.
Professor Trevor Duffy, IMO president, welcomed “the end to a cycle of brutal cuts to the budget” but warned that the plan had “literally no margin for additional demand” and would, at best, “maintain current overstretched services at current unacceptable levels.”
The Chief Executive of the Irish Dental Association Fintan Hourihan, said dentists were shocked that there was no provision to increase funds towards the costs of dental care treatment for medical card holders in 2015.
Opposition
Fianna Fáil’s spokesperson on Health Billy Kelleher says the plan will do nothing to eliminate lengthy waiting lists or reduce the pressure on frontline staff across the health service.
“The government is continuing to renege on commitments it made on mental health funding; the announcement today is €15 million short of what was promised. If the Minister for Health was honouring the commitments made in the Programme for Government, €50 million would be provided in 2015. Once again, it is the most vulnerable people that will lose out under this questionable budget,” Kelleher said.
“Clearly it is going to be another difficult year for our health services, and this budget leaves no room for manoeuvre,” he added.
Originally published: 1.48pm
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Wow… who’d have thought charging c.400% tax on a product would incentivise a black economy in that product?
It was always going to happen with the continued increases in tax. Tax needs to be reduced but that wont happen so this will just get worse. Average levy on cigarettes in EU is 3.50. We charged 8 per box of 20. That’s just mental.
@John Duggan: The tax is because of health issues. If you didn’t know smoking is bad and ends up costing the state who have to provide public health care ..
@Alan Kenny: all in taxes and levies are more than €11 on an average €14 box of cigarettes. It’s not just mental, it’s egregious.
@Gavin Lynam: Do you have some figures on what smokers cost the health system, versus what they generate in taxes?
@Gavin Lynam: Obesity causes issues too, so maybe a 400% tax on all take away foods and restaurants then ? Like the way the sugar tax fixed so much.
@Gavin Lynam: i am pretty sure that you believe in fairies and dragons as well.
@Da Dell: And a tax on frozen food/pizzas in supermarkets and any product that contains any trace of unhealthiness. Also put a health levy on driving cause people are too lazy to walk which is costing the taxpayer in health costs.
So much for personal responsibility and personal freedom. These taxes do very little to improve peoples’ health. Irish people constantly think in terms of how much money they could generate but aren’t thinking about the education aspect. Education is the key to everything but we aren’t too fond of that here, clinging on to our traditional leaving cert and not teaching many real world skills or education.
@JusticeForJoe: Money isn’t the issue
@Larsen Cib: Still haven’t grown out of your superhero faze I see ..
@JusticeForJoe: smokers cost the state around 300 million more than they contribute in taxes every year.
@Alan Kenny: an the same will happen with wine an beer ,.
@Fakë Ăvatăř: do you have a source for that?
@Ian Kerrigan.: I compiled the data as part of a project about two years ago, the figure ranges between 3 to 4 hundred million a year going from 2010 to 2018, long and short of it is smoking is a drain on economy.
@Fakë Ăvatăř: utter b0ll0x
@Fakë Ăvatăř: that’s interesting because it’s been reported that smokers give over 30 million beyond what they cost the exchequer. So unless you can provide evidence I’m not going to believe you over economists on the matt Cooper show.
@Fakë Ăvatăř: During that period smokers contributed on average 1,200M each year in combined excise duties and tax. In other words, they paid for all of their own health costs and gave a further €800M for the health of others.
(Figures supplies by the Revenue Commissioners).
Nobody should be suprised… Tax anything that much and its basically an open invite to criminals in the black market…There is other ways but the tories we have in charge aren’t capable of thinking outside the box
Legalise and regulate. If it was legal there’d be none of these criminal enterprises. Oh wait…
@Mattress Dick: Unfortunately the biggest gangsters in the country are the ones regulating this industry, the main crime here is the tax is circa 80% of the purchase price.
@Mattress Dick: Yes you right, better to leave as is, as its easy to get and cheap plus added bonus of having access to nearly all ‘drugs’ from same source. If the Gov got involved they would just make a balls of it.
@Mark Malone: pretty much this.
@Mattress Dick: there you are again. Great support for the cause of legalisation. Dick says legal is better.
Pretending that the tax is for the health system is a joke. Today’s children are much better educated about the dangers and yet during the pandemic there has been an increase of young people smoking
@Ian James Burgess: unfortunately naive , not far thinking people do believe in these fairy tales.
The profits from tobacco smuggling are on par with those from drugs, but the penalties for getting caught are a laugh. Basically a smack on the back of the hand.
Why don’t they follow these drug finds back to make mass arrests. Seizing stuff at the ports is lazy and unimaginative.
They haven’t gone away, you know.
have your say