New taskforce to target productivity and savings in the health service

A new taskforce is to target savings and productivity in the health service amid rapidly escalating spending which has not been matched by the number of patients being treated.

The group, which will be co-chaired by HSE chief executive Bernard Gloster and Department of Health secretary general Robert Watt, will meet for the first time on Wednesday.

Spending has rapidly increased in recent years, climbing from €11.8 billion in 2016 to €22.5 billion announced on budget day last year, with Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly saying on Wednesday that increased activity in hospitals was coming “at an increasingly high cost”.

“We have seen a divergence between resourcing and activity,” Mr Donnelly said in a statement to mark the first meeting of the Productivity and Savings Taskforce, adding that spending on acute hospitals had increased by 80 per cent in the past seven years, while spending on health services pay had risen by €3.2 billion in the same period.

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“The number of patients treated has not kept up with this large increase in resourcing however, rising by just 10-20 per cent over the same period. The hospital workforce has grown by 36 per cent in the same period,” he said.

There is increasing demand for healthcare, driven by an ageing population – the number of people aged over 65 growing by 22 per cent since 2016. Meanwhile, more outpatients, day cases and inpatient procedures are being seen alongside increased numbers of patients going through emergency departments and injury units.

Mr Donnelly said that as demand increased, new ways of meeting it had to be introduced. “We need to look more deeply at how we are structuring our healthcare services to ensure that resources are used effectively and the productivity of the health service is maximised.”

The taskforce has been told to study how new technologies, new working practices and changes to procurement can be used. Pre-existing projects to generate savings in the medicines budget, agency and consultancy costs and improved financial controls are also expected to cross over with its work.

The health service grew significantly during and after the Covid pandemic, with an extra 25,000 staff hired since 2020. However, the HSE has also struggled to hit its recruitment targets and while overall waiting lists have come down, the reduction has fallen short of targets.

Sinn Féin has criticised the Government for failing to adequately address the waiting list issue while also presiding over overcrowded emergency departments and, more recently, introducing a freeze on recruitment in some areas.

The Department of Health said the rate of additions was higher last year than in 2022, increasing by 188,000 people, and was 23 per cent of 322,000 higher than the level in 2019.

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