A DEPARTMENT of Health report has discounted the closure of a number of hospitals as a means of saving money as part of Health Service Executive (HSE) cost-cutting measures.
According to the department’s submission to the Comprehensive Review of Expenditure by the Department of Public Expenditure, a decision to shut down hospitals would “run entirely counter to the Government’s policy of developing the role of smaller hospitals for day services, ambulatory care, and of transferring appropriate services from the larger units”.
In recent years hospital campaigners at Ennis, Nenagh, Roscommon and Monaghan have expressed fears that the shutting down of 24-hour emergency services at those hospitals were the first steps in the eventual closure of the hospitals.
However, the department review found if hospitals were shut down, the letting go of staff and preventing the “lost” service transferring to other hospitals were unlikely to be feasible.
“The first would require a redundancy programme of some sort, and the second would create additional waiting lists from those no longer receiving a service in the closed facilities.”
One area the Department of Health is seeking savings is in non-emergency patient transport where some patients are transferred from their homes to hospital for kidney dialysis.
The department report states that spending has been reduced from €56.8 million to a targeted €42.5 million this year.
It says that “further efficiencies may require a reduction in services, particularly non-emergency patient transport”.
The report says non-emergency patient transport accounts for half of patient transport costs and includes both HSE and private services, including taxis, minibuses and contracted ambulances.
“There is significant regional variation in the provision of non-emergency transport.
“In the east and the midlands, strict criteria apply and patients are not provided with transport to hospital appointments unless there is specific hardship.
“Provision is more widespread in the west and southeast.
“If the criteria for private transport use in the east and midlands was applied nationally, the HSE would anticipate savings of up to €10 million this year or nearly 25 per cent of the total patient transport budget.”
The submission concedes: “However, this will mean the withdrawal of some taxi services in the west and southeast, and will be difficult with claims that access to health services will be reduced.”
It says as disability criteria are more consistent, there is likely to be a lesser impact on this patient group.
The plan proposed by the HSE will put in place a national booking and information management system, and include a patient-needs assessment.
