Failure to reform medical case payouts costing taxpayer additional €214m
GOVERNMENT failures to reform how medical compensation is paid out will have cost the taxpayer at least €214m in increased spending by the end of this year.
Both the HSE and the State Claims Agency have said spiralling legal costs have significantly hiked the State’s compensation bills.
The reforms – long-promised by successive governments, including the recent FG/Labour coalition – include protocols to ensure each side’s arguments are disclosed earlier and in greater detail than is currently the case. They also provide for periodic payments rather than a lump sum.
Although these reforms have been passed they have yet to be commenced by the Minister for Justice.
A working group on ‘no-fault compensation’ for children who suffered birth hypoxia (oxygen deficiency) has not met since 2008, according professor Denis Cusack.
The professor in forensic and legal medicine at UCD wrote to Health Minister Simon Harris in October about the delays.
The €214m overspend comes as the Irish Mail on Sunday reveals that half of cases dealt with by the SCA were not initially reported as an accident by staff.
The HSE service plan shows that none of the investigations started last year finished within the HSE’s own 120-day target. It also shows that just 40% of ‘serious reportable events’ were relayed to a senior person within 24 hours.
Stephan McMahon from the Irish Patients’ Association said: ‘While it is understandable that a very few investigations could extend beyond four months, this outcome suggests a serious management failure in not having even one investigation concluded in the time-frame.
‘I’m loath to say it but this requires an investigation in its own right. Perhaps it should be executed by an independent body such as the ombudsman’s office.’
Mr McMahon warned that the failure to report events means similar events could take place in other hospitals as senior managers would not be aware of errors.
The HSE failed to respond to our questions on this issue.
A SCA spokesman said if long-promised reforms were in place – and judges were satisfied with them – costs would decrease. He warned: ‘If not, volatility will remain.’
The HSE’s service plan for this year also comments on the spiralling costs: ‘The cost growths in this area in recent years are driven primarily by the operation of the legal system and not by factors under the control of the HSE and its services.’
The original 2015 budget was €96m – but was supplemented by €54m when costs started to increase.
In 2016, the budget was set at €128m and the 2017 budget was set at €224m in December. However, even this sum carries a health warning that more may be required.
This means €502m has been set aside since December 2014 for managing and settling claims for the HSE. This represents €214m more than if the original 2015 baseline of €96m per annum had been maintained.