(Cavan-Monaghan) asked the Minister for Health why the 1979 financial allocation to the North Eastern Health Board represented a smaller percentage increase in funds than any of the other seven health boards in the country.
Written Answers. - Allocations to Health Boards.
261.
Mr. Burton, Mr. Donegan, Mr. Conlan and Mr. T.J. Fitzpatrick
The basis on which non-capital allocations for health boards are determined was explained in some detail in the reply to a parliamentary question from Deputy Bruton and Deputy Boland which was answered on 27 March 1979.
The non-capital allocations which are notified to health boards at the commencement of the year are intended to cover the direct expenditure by the boards in maintaining ongoing services at levels approved in the preceding year as well as the estimated cost of services provided for persons from health board areas in voluntary hospitals and residential homes for mentally handicapped persons, which are funded directly by the Department of Health on behalf of health boards.
The amounts required to meet the full year cost arising from approvals given in the preceding year to such items as the commissioning of new units of accommodation, including recruitment of staff, pay awards and increases in cash allowances, vary as between health boards in terms of actual cash needs and can vary as a percentage of the previous year's allocation. Variations can also arise from year to year in the relative user by the health boards of facilities in voluntary hospitals and homes. These variations, when combined, can give rise to significant differences between the percentages by which overall allocations exceed the corresponding allocations for the preceding year.
One of the most significant factors which gives rise to differences between percentage increases in allocations is the disparate financial needs as between health boards in respect of the full year's revenue costs associated with new units of accommodation commissioned in the preceding year. For example, the main reason for the relatively high percentage increase represented by the 1979 allocation for the Southern Health Board was the need to include provision in the allocation for a full year's running costs of the new regional hospital which became functional towards the end of 1978. If all allocations for 1979 were adjusted so as to eliminate the provision included for the revenue costs of new units of accommodation the range of the percentage increases would be less marked and the allocation for the North Eastern Health Board would not show the lowest percentage increase.