Senator Pádraig Mac Lochlainn has hit out at the under investment in healthcare outlined in Budget 2018.
It was announced yesterday that health funding will increase by €685 million, up 5%, bringing the total funding to €15.3 billion.
However, Senator Mac Lochlainn explains that the Health Service needs a further €691 million to simply “stand still”, and asks whether the Government is aware of the scale of the crisis in Donegal, particularly in relation to Letterkenny University Hospital.
“There are currently 16,475 Donegal people on waiting lists for Letterkenny University Hospital. There are many more Donegal people on waiting lists for Sligo Regional Hospital and other hospitals across the State.
“That’s as many as one in every eight persons in Donegal on a hospital waiting list.
“On top of this has been the slashing of bed and nurse numbers in our community hospitals across Donegal. One in four beds and one in three nurses have been removed from this vital community health care system.
“And then there are the shocking numbers of our citizens on trolleys year in and year out at Letterkenny Hospital”.
He continued:
“I have to ask the questions. Do the Government actually get the scale of the health crisis in Donegal and across this State?
“What planet are they living on?
“With the crisis in the health service and twinned with a housing crisis in the cities and larger urban araes and with the limited financial space available, how could they choose now to cut taxes rather than truly work to address these crises?
“And how can Fianna Fáil stand over this?
“Yesterday, the Minister of Finance announced €685 million for the Health Service in Budget 2018. From the Budget document we see that €646 million of this increase is Current expenditure. However, when we examine what the Health Service needs just to stand still, we see the true nature of this Budget.
“The Health Service needs €129 million just to cater for demographics (i.e. population growth and ageing in 2018), and it also needs €165 million extra to cover the cost of pay agreements, and it needs €97 million of carryover ( i.e. to cover the full year costs of measures announced this time last year). Furthermore, the Health Service also needs a Budget increase of €300 million to cover the overspend (i.e. to properly fund it for what it actually delivers)”.
“So in summary the Health Service actually needs an increase of €691million next year simply to stand still. Yet, this Government and its backers in Fianna Fáil have chosen to leave our health system short of the money that is needed to standstill and instead prioritise tax cuts.
“In real terms they are cutting the Budget to health at a time of deep crisis.
Tags:“Mark my words, our health system will be in worse shape this time next year as a consequence of this Budget”.