Liz McManus (Wicklow, Labour)
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Question 236: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children the reason she has cut the 2005 budget for St. Columcille's Hospital by €1 million; if her attention has been drawn to the fact that this hospital treats a higher number of elderly patients and public patients than other hospitals; if this policy puts a hospital in a position to be deemed inefficient if it not also means that the greatest needs are being met; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3858/05]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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The national casemix programme compares costs and activity between 37 hospitals that participate in the programme. The programme incorporates over €3 billion of expenditure and 1.6 million patient encounters annually. The programme allows each hospital to take full account of their unique patients and unique issues, including elderly or other patients with a long length of stay. The entire process takes place in consultation with each hospital, placing patient centred information at the centre of the process.

I am committed to performance related targets and casemix is the most internationally accepted performance related acute hospital activity programme. Ireland operates a budget neutral policy which rewards efficiency by re-targeting funds from less efficient hospitals to those who have demonstrated that additional funding will result in real benefits. The negative adjustment of €1,055,679 was consequently a reflection of the hospital's true performance vis-À-vis its peers following full compensation for its own unique local circumstances and mix of cases.