Kenneth Fox
The National Service Plan for the HSE, which details how it will spend the €20.623 billion allocated for 2021, has been published today.
It sees an increase of €3.5 billion or 21 per cent on the 2020 National Service Plan. Within the extra €3.5bn for operating costs, some €1.68bn is for Covid-19 spending.
The Covid related spending includes Personal Protective Equipment, the vaccination programme, testing and tracing and improving access to care.
The plan addresses how to deliver services and functions in 2021 in the context of a global pandemic, and specifically what services are planned for 2021 to control the spread of Covid-19.
€1.8 billion extra represents an underlying increase of 10.6 per cent in health spending compared to last year, well ahead of the average annual increase of 7.3 per cent received across the years 2016-2020.
€1.1bn of this additional investment is to deliver permanent and enduring improvements in healthcare arising from the Sláintecare reform programme.
The remaining €0.7bn of this underlying (non-Covid) increase is to cover the increased costs of providing existing levels of service which have increased due to demographic changes and various cost increases.
Speaking about the additional funding, Paul Reid HSE chief executive said: “This significant investment represents the trust that the Government and the public have placed in us after a year in which our staff have gone above and beyond to do all they can to keep people safe and healthy.
“The last 12 months have brought very rapid changes in how we provide healthcare, and we intend to use the best of the changes coupled with the new investment to sustainably transform how we deliver healthcare in Ireland.”
Patient safety
The HSE said the plan provides for additional spending to improve many services including those in the areas of cancer, maternity and mental health.
It provides for an addition of 16,000 staff above December 2019 employment levels including over 1,100 medical and dental staff, more than 3,500 nurses and midwives and 4,000 health and social care professionals.
It details programmes of work from improving patient safety and keeping the population healthy and well, to supporting people living at home with lifelong conditions.
Mr Reid added "In 2021 we hope to use the additional funding to reinforce and support this move, which is in line with the Sláintecare reform agenda.”
The plan outlines reform measures and their expected impacts in 2021 which include:
- Enhancing primary preventive services and partnerships
- Reforming services to better support our growing and ageing population
- Delivering care as close to the patient as possible through enhancing primary and community care
- Increasing capacity & reforming scheduled / planned care
- Mainstreaming appropriate Sláintecare Integration Fund projects
- Improving access to mental health services
- Supporting the reform of disability services.
It also contains sections on improving the patient experience of the health service; improving population health and wellbeing.
