Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 6 April 2022

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health

Oversight of Sláintecare: Discussion (Resumed)

Mr. Robert Watt:

It will be interesting. This is work we are doing now based on the allocation of budgets for this year and next year. What does that actually look like on a per capitabasis on the different prospective regions we set out? I do not know the answer to that question. Is broadly the same per capita? You imagine it is since the types of service are broadly the same but there might be differences. In the main, geographically dispersed services cost more so will they cost more? Are they costing more now? I guess they are. Will that be reflected in the allocations? I just do not know. That will be interesting to see. When we move this forward, the question arises as to where we are now and how we allocate budgets into the future. We talk about it on a per capitabasis but it involves reflecting the characteristics of each region from a demographic perspective in terms of the demographic profile and how it differs across different regions. Issues around the spatial dimensions of population will also be factors. They must be factored in but I do not know the answer to the question because we have not seen the numbers. It will be interesting to see - we are doing the work this year - exactly what it looks like based on the budget for 2022 and the shadow budget for next year. We do not know the answer to the question but we would be interested in seeing what the numbers actually say.

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