Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 186: To ask the Minister for Health the cost savings he hopes to achieve as part of the new health service plan in the area of administration; the way this figure compares to savings he hopes to achieve on front-line services; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6973/12]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

The HSE National Service Plan 2012 sets out the health and personal social services that will be delivered by the HSE within its current budget of €13.317bn and identifies a cost reduction target in 2012 of €750m. The Service Plan reflects the Programme for Government commitments for health and the savings targets set out in the Comprehensive Expenditure Report 2012-2014.

The scale of the financial challenge facing the HSE means that there will be an inevitable and unavoidable reduction in services but it will not be a "straight line reduction". In developing the Plan, my Department and the HSE undertook a rigorous examination of budget allocations across the care programme areas, with the explicit aim of reducing the impact on frontline services and identifying where efficiencies will be driven. This process involved re-prioritising funding to protect areas of greatest need and meet Programme for Government commitments.

The pay and pension provisions in the Plan are based on about 3,000 WTE exits and I intend to review the Service Plan in March in the light of the numbers actually retiring. As part of my Department's Comprehensive Expenditure Review, I proposed to commission a systematic and robust review of the number and deployment of management and administration staff at corporate, regional, ISA and local health office levels to establish the scope which exists for further savings in administration, in order to protect front-line services. This exercise will best be conducted when the full impact of retirements up to February 2012 is known.

The HSE is currently finalising detailed service plans at regional level and these regional plans will take account of the effect of the reduction in both staff numbers and budgets, as well as the service areas identified for priority development under the National Service Plan. Contingency plans are being developed to address the impact of the retirements. These will include measures under the Public Service Agreement to achieve increased flexibility in relation to work practices and rosters, redeployment and other changes to achieve more efficient delivery of services. Some management structures and services will be amalgamated and streamlined, cross-cover arrangements will be put in place wherever possible and where clinical management numbers have been reduced.

It is clear that 2012 will be a very challenging year for the health services. The Service Plan commits the HSE to minimising the impact on services by fast tracking new, innovative and more efficient ways of using reduced resources. It reflects the need to move to new models of care across all service areas which will treat patients at the lowest level of complexity and provide quality services at the least possible cost. It also includes a commitment to addressing staffing levels, skill mix and staff attendance patterns/rosters within the context of the Public Service Agreement. The Plan will be implemented in the context of the significant new governance structures for the health services which I recently announced.