€3m shortfall at Connolly Hospital

Connolly Hospital is facing a shortfall in expenditure of at least €3m in the current year, Community Voice has learned. Management at the hospital are currently examining ways of meeting this shortfall in a manner that will create the least hardship for patients. However it is expected that some services will have to be affected by the funding problems.

As a result of the increased demands being made on the hospital and the extra services it had to provide to meet this demand, Connolly Hospital had a deficit of €2.5m on its expenditure last year. This was covered by the HSE, as indeed was the case with other hospitals. This year however the HSE has warned that there can be no overrun on the hospital’s 2008 budget of €102.4m.#

Unfortunately with the continuing growth in the population of Dublin 15 and the surrounding counties which avail of the services of Connolly, the chances of staying within this budget seem remote, according to hospital management.

Speaking to Community Voice, hospital manager Shay Smith, said “we have to cut our cloth according to our measure. We must now look to our own resources if we are to maintain services at last year’s level. To do this we will either have to raise or make savings of at least €3m.”

One proposal to meet some of the shortfall is likely to include the introduction of "pay and display" car parking in the hospital grounds. “We are looking at the introduction of a charge of €1 per hour or €5 per day for visitors’ car parking,” said Mr. Smith. “This could bring us in up to €500,000 a year.

“We are also looking at all of our internal processes such as better bed utilisation and moving one of our wards from a seven day to a five day unit to improve efficiency. We must also find other efficiencies to save the rest of the money. We will be looking at all of our discretionary spending such as cutting back on the employment of agency staff, reduction in overtime and suchlike. However patient care will remain our paramount consideration throughout,” he stressed.

The financial problems being faced by the hospital are however likely to worsen. As the population of Dublin 15 continues to grow – it grew by over 20% in the period 2002 – 2006 – so too will the demand for hospital services continue to grow as well. Well documented problems with health services in the north east of the country have also put greater pressure on Connolly Hospital.

Community Voice understands that one of the cost saving measures being considered may see the closing of out-patient clinics for routine visits during the holiday periods – particularly in July and at Christmas. This could allow for significant savings on the employment of holiday locum and agency staff during those periods.

 

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