All hospitals are required to operate within their allocated budgets and to meet the service level activity targets that the hospital has agreed for 2011. I recognise that the management of funding allocations by public hospitals poses a serious budgetary challenge.
The Health Service Executive has advised me that St. James's Hospital will break even in the current year which will allow it to commence in 2012 in a healthy financial position. St. James Hospital had no opening deficit at the start of 2011. Tallaght Hospital carried an accumulated deficit of approximately €22m into the current year and is projecting a deficit of €11m for 2011. The hospital has implemented cost containment measures that has seen it break even in each of the last three months, and is projecting a break-even run rate each month to year end. In that context, the hospital will commence 2012 in an improved financial environment. The hospital will, however, have to deal with its accumulated deficit in the future within its overall financial resources.
St. Vincent's University Hospital carried a €1m accumulated deficit into the current year and is projecting an overspend of €7m or 3.5% for 2011. Cost containment plans are being considered in order to deal with this carrying deficit. The Mater Hospital carried an accumulated deficit of €1.86m into the current year and is projecting a deficit of €2m for the current year. It will also carry this deficit into 2012 and will have to deal with it within its overall resources. Beaumont Hospital carried an accumulated deficit of €0.340m into the current year and is projecting a €3m deficit in 2011. As with all other hospitals with deficits, Beaumont will carry this deficit into 2012 and will have to deal with it within the overall financial resources available to it.
I am on record as saying that every individual agency must take responsibility and do everything possible to stay within budget while delivering their planned level of service. Under its reform programme the Government has committed to achieving greater efficiencies in patient care and service delivery. These efficiencies will not be easy to achieve but I am certain that over time they will help to ensure that more people get access to services within a given quantum of funding. In this regard it is important that the management capacity in our public hospitals is sufficiently robust to meet these challenges.
The Deputy will also be aware that it is the role of the Special Delivery Unit, which I recently established, to address issues around the better and more efficient delivery of health services. The work of the SDU will contribute significantly to improving outcomes for patients and to greater efficiencies in the system to avoid any budgetary overruns, while at the same time endeavouring to ensure the maintenance of services in line with the commitments given by the HSE and public hospitals.