Projected overspend on health services must be reduced, warns Paschal Donohoe

The size of a projected overspend on health services this year must be reduced, Paschal Donohoe has warned.

The Public Expenditure Minister was commenting following estimates that the HSE is facing a deficit in excess of 1.5 billion euro this financial year.

The overrun has been attributed to inflation.

Mr Donohoe said he was working with Health Minister Stephen Donnelly to minimise the projected shortfall. “We’re working very closely with the Department of Health with regard to this,” he said.

“We have already in place a record level of funding for the HSE and for the Department of Health and that record level of funding is in many different areas, translating into improved healthcare, and is making a difference to the outcomes that our citizens need in terms of their health.

“But what I’ve also done, and Minister Donnelly has worked with me in relation to this, is that we’ve indicated that we’re not in a position to be able to respond back to some of the higher figures that have been indicated, that any health overspend that is there will need to come down.

“Minister Donnelly and I are working on that in such a way as also to avoid compromising patient care.

“It has been a feature of different budgets that we have had a health overspend on the rest of the year, but myself, the Department of Health and the HSE are working together to minimise that because there’s a certain level of figure and a certain level of cost that the taxpayer cannot be expected to respond back to. And we’ll work on that as we approach the budget.”

Mr Donohoe said he was not yet prepared to concede there will be a need for a supplementary budget to top up health spending.

“What we will do is work hard and the HSE needs to play their part to minimise any additional costs the taxpayer has to face at the end of the year,” he said.