MINISTER FOR Health Mary Harney has suggested that hospital consultants could share secretarial staff in future as part of new efficiency drives in the health service.
Speaking to journalists last week, the Minister suggested that in the future each consultant might not have an individual secretary. Department of Health sources suggested later that the Minister was commenting on further efficiency measures that could be looked at in the health service. The Minister’s remarks came as the Health Service Executive (HSE) faces a reduction of potentially up to €700 million on its budget for next year.
Senior HSE managers held internal talks last Friday on their plans for next year.
However, it is understood that no specific level of cuts in funding for next year has been proposed at this stage.
Speaking last week in relation to the HSE’s budget for 2011, Ms Harney said that the challenge would be “to make sure that work practice changes come first, before we begin to affect services to patients”.
Under the terms of the Croke Park agreement on public service pay and reform, staff in the health service have agreed to work practice changes and efficiencies in return for guarantees from the Government that there will be no further pay cuts or compulsory redundancies.
The deal allows, for example, for the introduction of 8am-8pm working as part of the core working day and for new redeployment arrangements for staff. However, unions have said that specific proposals have not yet been put forward by management.
In addition to potential budget cuts next year, the HSE is also facing a challenging financial situation for the remainder of 2010.
Last week, the HSE revealed that savings of €103 million will have to be made across its four geographic regions before the end of the year if it is to balance its budget. The HSE’s latest monthly performance report shows, however, that its overall financial position has improved over the past few months. In May it had an overall deficit of €84 million but by the end of July – the latest figures – its deficit was down to €35.2 million.
