HSE may record deficit of €200m-€300m for first half of the year

The HSE is facing a potential financial overrun of between €200 million and €300 million for the first six months of the year, new official figures suggest.

The HSE recorded a deficit of €101.5 million in the period January and February, according to the first financial report of the year for the health service released by the Department of Health.

Highly-placed sources suggested the trends recorded in the first two months of the year had not been reversed and the financial deficit had continued to grow.

“Health expenditure, as set out in the [Government’s] Summer Economic Statement, will continue to be monitored,” a department spokeswoman said.

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The half-year accounts are not expected to be released for a number of months. However – based based on the trends so far in 2018 – it is expected to record a deficit of between €200 million and €300 million.

The HSE said last month it had recorded a net operating deficit of just under €140 million in 2017. The Government has not yet announced how this deficit will be addressed.

Potential challenge

The HSE received a net revenue budget from the exchequer of €14.411 billion for 2018 – an increase of €255 million over its final budget for last year.

The HSE has argued the additional spending came about as a result of dealing with the trolley crisis and increasing numbers of older people presenting at hospitals

But even before the start of the year it was concerned about a potential financial challenge, and its former director general Tony O'Brien warned Minister for Health Simon Harris privately that the deficit could ultimately reach more than €800 million for the full year.

The new financial report released by the department shows the country’s acute hospitals had recorded a deficit of more than €45 million by the end of February.

The report says that in the first two months of the year, there was an overall deficit recorded of €88.6 million in the HSE's operational services, including acute hospitals. It says pensions and demand-led areas including the State Claims Agency had a deficit in the period of nearly €13 million.

Trolley crisis

The HSE has argued the additional spending in the first two months of the year came about as a result of dealing with the trolley crisis and increasing numbers of older people presenting at hospitals.

It is understood to have maintained that there has been a 17 per cent increase in the number of patients over age 75 presenting at some hospitals, and that demand in general has risen by about 6 per cent on average year-on-year.

Meanwhile, Mr Harris is expected to bring proposals to Cabinet on Tuesday to establish a new expert group to consider whether there may be an alternative mechanism to the court process for resolving clinical negligence claims.