New measures sought to tackle Galway hospitals’ deficit

A SERIES of new measures are necessary to tackle the legacy deficit of an estimated €10 million facing public hospitals in Galway, according to a well known health activist.
New HSE chief executive officer Cathal Magee says public hospitals in Galway are facing a two-fold challenge with funding their services this year.
Galway University Hospitals, which includes UHG and Merlin Park,  started with overspend debts from last year believed to be in the region of €10 million, which will have to be taken into account when its final budget allocation is made.
The hospitals, along with Portiuncula Hospital in Ballinasloe and Roscommon General Hospital will have a single budget and one employment ceiling from now on.
Mr Magee warned that certain hospitals, including University College Hospital, Galway, will struggle to deal with a legacy deficit.
They are also facing the challenge of having a reduced budget allocation for this year, compared to last year.
According to official figures presented at a recent HSE Forum meeting the over expenditure at UHG and Merlin Park was €11.7m in November.
Concern has also been expressed by HSE Forum members about the high number of people on waiting lists in the hospitals.
The number of patients on the active waiting list increased from 4,567 in September 2009 to 6,034 a year later and up to 7,816 in September 2011. Average waiting times also went up from 11 months in September 2009 to 12 months a year later and up to a worrying 22 months by September 2011.
HSE Forum chairman, Councillor Pádraig Conneely believes this deficit may have fallen slightly to about €10m when the end-of-year accounts are presented at the next Forum meeting.
While the expected major cutbacks in Galway university hospital budgets are expected to put pressure on existing resources, Councillor Conneely insists public patients should not be forced to endure longer waiting times in emergency departments and elective surgery.
The HSE Forum chairman predicted significant cutbacks can be made without affecting patient care by tackling absenteeism and the millions of euro owed to hospitals from private insurance companies because claims haven’t been signed off by consultants.
He was told at previous meetings last year, there was up to €9m owed from private insurance companies of which €6m was still outstanding for over 12 months because of poor administration by consultants.
He proposed there should be a 30-day turnaround for payments, similar to the private sector, which would go a long way towards tackling the current deficit.
With absenteeism running at about 5.7% in the Galway hospitals, he said HSE could open another ward in UCH if sick leave was reduced to the national target of about 3.5%.
“I believe that patients should not be forced to suffer if the right management systems are put in place. Galway hospitals have been judged as bottom of the table by the HSE’s own Healthstat due to a dysfunctional management systems within the HSE. No permanent appointment was made at UHG since the retirement of Bridget Howley in 2009 and  things went downhill after that,” the councillor said.
Welcoming the appointment of new UHG hospital chief executive officer, Bill Maher, Councillor Conneely said he hoped to see a dramatic improvement in the hospital in the next three or four months as he wasn’t prepared to stand for anything else.
Councillor Conneely said he understood Mr Maher had performed very well running St Vincent’s Hospital in Dublin very efficiently over the last few years, having spent in the region of 16 years working in the National Health Service in England.
“Mr Maher is always looking at ways to improve systems and structures within the hospital. I am due to meet him this week to discuss a number of issues at the hospital. I expect to see improvements within the next three or four months. Acute services have to improve in Galway because I will not be standing for anything else,” he said.
UHG was again awarded a red-light rating from the health reporting agency, representing that the hospital’s performance is “dissatisfactory” and “in need of urgent attention” in the Healthstat Dashboard report last October.
There were 55 patients waiting on trolleys at University Hospital Galway on January 17 last.
The hospital continues to have one of the highest number of patients without beds in Ireland, as closed wards and reduced staff have a knock-on impact on frontline services.