Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Budget 2023 saw a record allocation of €24 billion to the health Vote. This increased funding reflects the Government's ongoing commitment to resourcing the HSE to deal with a range of pressures and includes a range of new investments to deliver on the Sláintecare reform agenda.

As part of the planning for service delivery for 2023, extensive engagements took place between the Department of Health and the HSE on managing the financial risks for 2023 and areas for savings and efficiencies were identified as part of that process. However, both demand and inflationary pressures have been high across the health sector and, in particular, in our acute hospitals. This combination of price and volume increases, reflecting demographic and post-Covid impacts, has led to increased costs in the provision of health services and contributed significantly to the HSE deficit, which was €642 million, or an overspend of approximately 6.8%, at the end of June.

Building on the areas identified in the NSP for savings, specific targeted measures have already been introduced to achieve reductions in the deficit. We are seeing increased levels of activity in comparison with the same period in 2019. Emergency department attendances are up 8%. Emergency department attendances by those aged 75 and older are up 21%. Admissions from emergency departments are up 7.5%. Admissions by those aged 75 and over from the emergency departments were up 15%.

Another cost driver is the significant impact of inflation across health in 2023. Core inflation is a reasonable general indicator for health, as it reflects products and services and removes energy and food. It has been increasing throughout 2023 and stood at 6.4% year on year in August, even as headline inflation began to decrease. The ESRI warned that core inflation may be harder to subdue and lead to upwards revisions in the inflation outlook for next year.

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