Calls have been made for the HSE to reward Ennis General Hospital for keeping within it’s allocated budget so far this year.
Figures supplied to members of the Regional Health Forum show that to the end of last month, hospitals in the HSE West Area had collectively overspent their year-to-date budgets by nearly 22 million euro after exclusions.
And every hospital in the Mid-West had spent more than it had been allocated except for Ennis, which was in line with what it had been granted.
Coming as the HSE faces a reported 286 million euro overspend for the year, Ennis Fianna Fail Councillor and member of the Health Forum West Group Brian Meaney says hospitals that comply with monetary restrictions should be rewarded.
Seperately, the Irish Hospice Foundation says it fears it won’t be able to provide home care services for children because of HSE cutbacks.
The IHF says the planned 666 million in Health Service cutbacks throws the HSE’s commitment to fund three of the country’s eight Children’s Outreach Nurses into doubt.
The IHF itself funds 85 per cent of the children’s programme – a level it says is "unsustainable".
