Vol. 562 No. 6
46 Mr. Timmins asked the Minister for Health and Children the areas in which overruns occurred in the various health boards; the extent to which these overruns were within the acute hospitals sector or the community care sector or otherwise; the extent of the overrun in each area; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6692/03]
The figures available to me, which are not finalised, for health boards-authority outturns for 2002 are set out in the following table. The overrun as reported is €26 million across health boards-authority and represents approximately 0.38% of approved expenditure. The Deputy will agree that this is a good result given the pressure on services that was experienced throughout 2002.
Whilst I cannot be definitive at this stage about the detail of the programme overrun for each board-authority, it is clear from the information available to me that the major problem was experienced in the acute hospital sector. Other difficulties arose in areas such as legal costs associated with children services, services for older people, particularly nursing home subventions, health inflation issues, such as insurance and waste disposal. A detailed breakdown of this will not be available to me until the figures for 2002 have been finalised in the annual financial statements. The 1996 accountability legislation provides for a first charge reflecting excess expenditure to be set off against the following year's budget as a disciplinary measure so that health agencies plan their service delivery within approved expenditure limits.
|
Agency |
RevisedDetermination |
Projected outturn |
Variance |
% of Budget |
|
€m |
€m |
€m |
% |
|
|
Eastern Regional Health Authority |
2,844.341 |
2,879.341 |
35.0 |
1.23 |
|
Midland Health Board |
352.146 |
352.146 |
Nil |
Nil |
|
Mid-Western Health Board |
499.654 |
495.154 |
(4.5) |
(0.9) |
|
North Eastern Health Board |
479.200 |
479.200 |
Nil |
Nil |
|
North Western Health Board |
420.354 |
422.354 |
2.0 |
0.48 |
|
South Eastern Health Board |
616.443 |
613.943 |
(2.5) |
(0.41) |
|
Southern Health Board |
913.919 |
915.419 |
1.5 |
0.16 |
|
Western Health Board |
682.447 |
677.047 |
(5.4) |
(0.79) |
|
Total |
6,808.504 |
6,834.604 |
26.1 |
0.38 |
