The Health Service Executive could start 2015 with a deficit of €85 million despite increased funding next year, Fianna Fáil health spokesman Billy Kelleher has claimed.

He said there was a potential budget deficit for this year of €500 million and the service could start next year €85 million in the red.

Mr Kelleher was speaking as he introduced a Fianna Fáil Private Member’s Motion on funding the health service which criticised the Government’s “hypocrisy” and the pain the 2015 HSE service plan would cause ordinary people throughout the country.

However Minister of State for Health Kathleen Lynch said the State would have €635 million more to spend next year than in 2014. She said the €635 million was made up of additional exchequer funding of €305 million and projected once-off revenues of €330 million.

Savings

The HSE had also “identified a minimum savings target of €130 million in areas such as procurement and drugs and agency costs”.

Mr Kelleher said more than 50,000 people were now waiting for inpatient day cases, there were over 200 consultant posts vacant, and 380,000 people were waiting to see a consultant on an outpatient basis.

He said “the health services are underfunded, the 2015 HSE plan is not sufficient to fully address the increasing demands and demographic pressures being placed on our hospital system”.

He said discretionary medical cards continued to be taken from people day in, day out, and Government policies on the issue were “disgraceful and distasteful”.

Attacks

He accused the Government of consistent attacks on older people and supports such as the fuel allowance and the telephone allowance, which had been seen a de facto entitlement but were now being “stripped away from them slowly and by stealth”.

And he said the waiting time for the nursing home Fair Deal package had gone from 500 people in January waiting five weeks, to 2,200 people now waiting for 15 weeks for the deal to be approved.

Ms Lynch acknowledged there were 850 delayed discharges reported nationally, “the equivalent of a large hospital”. She was very conscious of the upset this caused for patients and their families and the 2015 service plan included €25 million extra to help address the issue through home-care packages, step-down facilities or long-term residential care.

This included €10 million to support 300 extra places in nursing homes and to reduce waiting time to under 11 weeks, as well as €8 million for 115 short-stay beds.