Patrick Nulty (Dublin West, Labour)
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Question 277: To ask the Minister for Health the proportion, if any, of the €145 million savings from the employment control framework-pay cost containment as per the comprehensive expenditure review 2012-2014 that will come from the mental health services; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40210/11]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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The gross current budget for the Health Sector for 2012 is €13,644m. An additional €79m is to be raised through a number of measures to increase the level of income from private patients treated in public hospitals and also to improve the collection rate of these charges. When account is taken of the Government's target savings, the need to meet unavoidable cost pressures and priority Programme for Government commitments, the savings target in 2012 is €543 million.

There are a range of measures identified to meet these savings targets including those arising from the implementation of the Employment Control Framework and other pay cost containment measures. The reduction in health service numbers under the ECF recently approved by Government, when taken with the other factors above, will result in reductions in services in 2012 and beyond. All programmes will come under scrutiny as a result of the reduction in expenditure, and the extent and nature of the impact on services will fall to be addressed in preparing the HSE's National Service Plan for 2012. The nature and range of the savings measures taken in recent years means it has become increasingly necessary to focus on improving the way services are organised and delivered. This is entirely appropriate and in keeping with the focus in the Programme for Government on reforming the way health services are funded and delivered to achieve greater productivity and more cost-effective services.

The National Service Plan will be submitted to me before Christmas, after which I have 21 days within which to approve the Plan or direct that it be amended. It is my intention, however, that this process will be concluded by the end of the year. My Department and the HSE are working collaboratively to develop the Plan in the context of the Comprehensive Review of Expenditure, the Programme for Government reform agenda and commitments for Mental Health and Primary Care. It will also take account of unavoidable cost increases and the savings measures agreed by Government, and will indicate at a high level how these will impact on the various service/care areas.