Money isn’t the answ er, yet it’s the only option being pursued

Kevin Doyle

ANYBODY who manages a budget for their company will generally tell you that leaving money unspent at the end of the year is a bad idea.

The theory goes that rather than thank you for being so prudent, the ‘ big boys upstairs’ will see your department as prime for cutbacks next year.

So it’s not uncommon to see individual departments in private sector companies splash the cash as the year draws to a close.

In the HSE though, things operate in reverse. It seems to operate on the basis that no matter how much is spent, somebody will pick up the bill afterwards. This year will be no different, as new figures released by the Department of Public Expenditure show spending is up €600m in the first six months of the year.

The choices facing the Government are now pretty simple: implement cutbacks at a time of economic boom or find some magic money down the back of Paschal Donohoe’s couch.

“Whatever happens there will be no cutbacks,” a Government source told the Irish Independent last night.

Mr Donohoe and Health Minister Simon Harris met yesterday to tr y to come up with a plan – but it seems inevitable that they will have to pull resources from elsewhere. Expect talk over the next few days about

‘efficiencies’, but ultimately the HSE will have its bad debts paid down without fear of repercussions.

It has happened year af ter year now, with the exception of 2016.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar is hardly in a position to blame Mr Harris, given that he presided over similar requirements for supplementary budgets.

Back in 2014, he blamed “increased levels of medical activity, drugs and therapies, medical appliances, the cost of State claims, and frontline staf f ” for the HSE needing a €500m bailout. Mr Harris will probably trot out similar issues when he faces the media in the coming days.

Of course the Government now has a stock answer when pushed by opposition parties about the lack of progress in resolving the trolley crisis, the waiting lists and the specialised ser vices.

It follows the lines of what Mr Varadkar told the National Economic Dialogue at Dublin Castle last week: “The problems we face in healthcare are about a lot more than staff and more resources and more buildings.”

He said history has shown that “throwing money” at health won’t get the desired results. According to a majority of the Dáil, the real answer is the muchhyped Sláintecare plan for redesigning the health service. But the Government is disputing much of its recommendations, meaning it ’s unlikely to amount to much.

So in the meantime, we’ll continue to throw money at the problem while saying it ’s not the solution.