Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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58. To ask the Minister for Health if reports that the HSE is facing a projected €300 million financial deficit this year are accurate; and the action that will be taken to address this. [40942/17]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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To end June the HSE is reporting net expenditure of €6,959.1m, which is €132.9m (1.95%) over profile. This variance includes €33m for the central pay decision on the early payment of the Landsdowne Road Agreement (LRA) which is not yet funded by Government. Excluding this issue, the variance is €99.8m.

While made up of offsetting surpluses and deficits, a large proportion of the overall reported deficit arises in Acutes (€104m) and Disability (€15m) Services. The underlying deficit in Acutes division is substantially reflected in non-pay categories and comprises increased volume and complexity of activity, non-achievement of savings targets, and a shortfall in income, while the deficit in the Disability division is predominantly a result of regulatory compliance, emergency placements and the non-achievement of targeted savings.

In addition, payments in relation to the State Claims Agency, spending on which is always difficult to predict, account for €24m of the deficit at the end of June.

The non-achievement to date of targeted savings is under examination. There will always be a requirement for effective management of overall resources particularly since health care demands continue to rise due to our growing and ageing population, the increasing incidence of chronic conditions, and advances in medical technologies and treatments. The HSE has used its Performance and Accountability Framework to identify actions to be undertaken, at both the centre and local level, to reduce the overspend. These include the issuance of performance notices, an examination of the drivers the overspend, and the mandated production of savings plans and targets.

The high level of variance against profile to end June is of significant concern and my Department is engaging closely with the HSE to ensure that every effort is made to maximise cost containment and cost avoidance measures and identify a series of mitigating actions that do not impact on the ability of the HSE to deliver on the planned activity levels set out in the NSP 2017.

While it is anticipated that there may be some areas that will experience overruns in 2017, it is too early yet to be definitive in terms of the final outturn for the health services at year end.