Vol. 455 No. 3
1 Mrs. Geoghegan-Quinn asked the Minister for Health the way in which the curbs on public spending will impact on programmes in his Department; the way in which he plans to effect savings in his budget; and the recruitment and development plans that may have to be shelved or curtailed in 1995 and 1996 by his Department or agencies under his aegis because of the Exchequer's financial crisis. [12019/95]
Limerick East): I have examined the implications of the Government decision on further recruitment this year and expenditure for 1996. The Government has now decided to allow further recruitment in the health service within the parameters of overall public expenditure as set out by the Government decision. My Department is at present considering the priority to be given to certain areas and the health agencies will be notified of the position in relation to all planned developments. I do not envisage that there will be any effect on the implementation of the Child Care Act or developments in services for the mentally handicapped and the physically disabled this year. As I have indicated previously, on my visits to the health boards, the effect of the Government's decision in 1996 and the following years will be that the planned developments will continue to be implemented but at a slower rate than originally anticipated. The level of additional recruitment to health agencies will reflect this position.
What savings, as set down by the Department of Finance, does the Minister for Health have to achieve, and how will they impact on current versus capital expenditure?
(Limerick East): The savings requested are from gross current public expenditure rather than capital and the figure is 0.7 per cent. In terms of my Department that works out at between £15 million and £16 million.
The Minister said he will establish priorities and has exempted the areas of mental handicap, physical disability and the Child Care Act, 1991 in the context of the embargo on recruitment. In which areas will the Minister not implement cuts?
(Limerick East): There are no cuts envisaged for 1995. It is a question of taking decisions now which would have a sufficient lead-in time to keep public expenditure within the targets of the Programme for Government which is plus 2 per cent in real terms. That has implications for recruitment and the overall Estimate in 1996. However, we are talking about a Department which has a budget of £2.3 billion and a staff complement, taking into account all the agencies funded out of the Vote, of 64,000 persons.
Does the Minister envisage that the level of service currently being provided through the Department of Health will remain at the same level or will increase or decrease in 1996 as a result of the overall target he has to meet next year?
(Limerick East): Improvements will continue through 1995, and I am confident they will be maintained next year. I also expect to have some development funds to make further improvements in 1996 in areas which I intend to prioritise.
Does the Minister intend to replace the student nurses to be put into the third level system as and from the end of this year/beginning of next year, and how does he intend to do this?
(Limerick East): The embargo, with effect from 9 June, is in respect of new posts. The posts occupied by student staff nurses at the moment being trained within the hospital system are existing posts. The new cohort of students to come into the service in certain hospitals, for example, in Galway and Limerick, will be attached to a university. However, the posts their predecessors vacate can be filled by staff nurses. There will be no suppression of posts, and no embargo on the filling of existing posts. In theory, the situation will be improved, because the students will be replaced by fully qualified nurses.
