Some 22 hospitals across the State have had their 2006 budgets cut by more than €9 million for inefficiencies. The hospital worst hit is Mayo General Hospital which has had its budget cut by €1.2 million this year.
Two other hospitals also had more than €1 million deducted from their annual budgets this year. They are Our Lady's Hospital, Navan, which has had its budget cut by €1.063 million and Limerick Regional Hospital which had its budget trimmed by €1.028 million.
The amounts are deducted under a system called casemix which rewards efficient hospitals and penalises inefficient ones. Factors taken into account include their throughput of patients and the cost of treating patients with similar conditions in different hospitals. Money taken from inefficient hospitals is redistributed among more efficient ones.
The Department of Health allocates 30 per cent of hospital funding on the basis of the casemix model and plans to up this to 40 per cent next year and 50 per cent the following year.
The latest casemix figures published yesterday by the Department indicate Cork University Hospital is one of the most efficient in the State. It had €1,935,482 added to its budget this year.
Other hospitals to receive extra funding on the basis of their performance include Waterford Regional Hospital, which gets an extra €1,212,266, the Longford Westmeath Hospital in Mullingar which gets an extra €895,120 and Merlin Park Regional Hospital in Galway which gets an extra €867,490.
The figures were announced yesterday by the Department of Health and are based on the hospitals' activity levels in 2004. It said casemix creates an incentive for better performance.
Last night Tony Canavan, the manager of Mayo General Hospital said while the result for his hospital was disappointing it would not negatively affect any planned developments in services this year. He said the negative figure was because money had been spent on a new orthopaedic service at the hospital in 2004 but it did not begin to operate until 2005.
The adjustments made to the budgets of other hospitals are as follows: Wexford General Hospital (+€853,453), Letterkenny General Hospital (+€701,204), South Infirmary-Victoria Hospital, Cork (+€627,652), Mater Hospital (+€620,674), Louth County Hospital (+€467,419), Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda (+€369,656), Mercy Hospital, Cork (+€345,032), Tralee General Hospital (+€308,346), Coombe Women's Hospital (+€132,778), Portiuncula Hospital, Ballinasloe (+€32,896), Temple Street (+€1,484), Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children, Crumlin (-€1,484), Mallow General Hospital (-€14,565), National Maternity Hospital, Holles Street (-€14,799), St Columcille's Hospital, Loughlinstown (-€45,453), St Vincent's Hospital (-€98,031), St Luke's, Kilkenny (-€117,369), Rotunda Hospital (-€117,979), St James's Hospital (-€146,515), Cavan General Hospital (-€220,563), Monaghan General Hospital (-€257,217), Regional Orthopaedic Hospital, Limerick (-€297,526), Beaumont Hospital (-€312,564), University College Hospital, Galway (-€366,692), Sligo General Hospital (-€488,360), St Mary's Orthopaedic Hospital, Gurranebraher (-€497,315), Portlaoise General Hospital (-€553,928), Connolly Hospital, Blanchardstown (-€711,432), Tullamore General Hospital (-€851,866), and Tallaght Hospital (-€920,920).