James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Under the 2004 Health Act, the Health Service Executive, HSE, has 21 days from the publication of the Estimates for supply services on budget day to submit its 2014 national service plan for my consideration. This would have required the HSE to finalise and submit its service plan for next year by Tuesday, 5 November. The Act, however, allows the Minister for Health to provide the HSE with any such other period that he or she may wish to allow in this regard. In view of the challenging budgetary context, which my colleague has highlighted in florid terms, within which the 2014 plan must be prepared, I wrote to the HSE on Wednesday, 30 October to confirm that the executive would be given an additional ten days, that is, until Friday, 15 November, to adopt and submit its 2014 service plan for my consideration. This extended period also recognises that the earlier than usual presentation of the 2014 budget and the demanding Estimates ceiling for health spending in 2014 makes the task of preparing the 2014 plan particularly challenging and difficult for the executive.

Given the earliness of the budget, this gives more time to make sure hospitals and other services have their budgets in place on 1 January even if time is taken up doing so at this point. Clearly, a huge challenge must be met, to which the Deputy has alluded. It is premature to say it will be impossible before it is delivered.

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