IHCA calls for Prioritisation of Frontline Acute and Mental Health Services

IHCA calls for Prioritisation of Frontline Acute and Mental Health Services

13th October, 2015: The Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA), while welcoming the increase in the health budget compared with the current year, expressed its concern that the 2016 Health Budget will prove insufficient given increasing demand and the need for new services.

Dr Gerard Crotty, IHCA President, said that this year’s health expenditure is projected to exceed the 2015 budget by some €600 million.  This, he said, does not include the full year cost of additional services which were brought on stream on an increasing basis as the year progressed.

Dr Crotty said the increase in the 2016 Health Budget of €280 million over the 2015 projected outturn is expected to fall short of what will be needed.  He said that there is a risk of a serious shortfall when account is taken of the scale of increased demand due to our ageing population, free GP care schemes and inflation, especially in view of the lack of capacity to treat patients currently.

The IHCA President said it is critically important that the allocation of funding in the 2016 National Service Plan (NSP) prioritises frontline acute services to reduce the unacceptable waiting lists and the number of patients who are being treated on trolleys.

Dr Crotty said that it is glaringly obvious that our acute hospitals have an inadequate number of ward and ICU beds and insufficient diagnostic, theatre, staffing and other resources to treat patients without delays.  Dr Crotty added, that it is critically important that these capacity limitations are addressed in the 2016 NSP to ensure the delivery of safe high quality care to the growing number of patients presenting in acute hospitals.

ENDS

For more information:

James Dunny, FleishmanHillard, +353 86 288 3903

Fiona Murphy, FleishmanHillard, +353 87 819 4464