Denis Naughten TD, Member of the Oireachtas Health Committee, has questioned the fact that the Special Delivery Unit (SDU) has committed funding of nearly €11,300/patient to Galway University Hospital for the transfer of patients from the hospital to a nursing home pending approval under the Fair Deal Scheme.

“While the SDU has approved funding of just over €11,300/patient to be discharged from Galway University Hospitals in Limerick the average cost is €3,600/patient where that hospital is operating under a similar type of management structure and over a number of sites,” highlighted Denis Naughten.

“It is bizarre that the SDU has paid out three times the Limerick average for patients to be discharged from Galway University Hospital, especially when there have been beds left vacant within the hospital group and long stay public nursing homes funded by the taxpayer with bed availability. It beggars belief that funds are being spent in such a fashion.

“Nationally, the Special Delivery Unit has committed funding of on average €7,452/patient (€1.5m for 198 patients) under a scheme to purchase private nursing home beds for long-stay patients in acute hospital beds awaiting approval under the Fair Deal scheme.

“I am aware of requests being made in the West to have this fund more effectively operated in conjunction with public long stay nursing homes and step down facilities, but to date this seems to have fallen on deaf ears.

“I cannot understand how the SDU can stand over these figures in the current economic climate when at the same time there are vacant beds in the Hospital Group, in local Community Nursing and in short stay step down beds servicing the group of hospitals, which are already being funded by the Department of Health,” concluded Denis Naughten.

Editor Note: This statement is based on figures published by the Medical Independent. However, the wrong figures were presented to the paper for Galway University Hospitals. According to the National Communications Unit, HSE West- the total funding for the 3 month period was €317,000 for 28 beds.

Hospitals left short by SDU

Exclusive | Ailbhe Jordan | 05 Apr 2012 |

Nine hospitals have been left carrying debts of almost half a million euro as they await funding promised by the Special Delivery Unit (SDU) to repay them for discharging long-stay patients into nursing homes, the Medical Independent (MI) can reveal.

The SDU committed a total of €1,475,580 to 14 hospitals under a scheme to purchase private nursing home beds so that long-stay patients awaiting Fair Deal approval could be discharged from acute hospitals.

The scheme was part of a wider initiative to reduce the number of patients waiting on trolleys in EDs, according to the HSE.

On 28 February, 14 hospitals had discharged 198 patients into nursing homes at a cost of almost €1.5 million. However, the SDU had only refunded €1,098,542 and in some cases left hospitals with significant debts, documents released under the Freedom of Information Act reveal.

Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda has been left with a debt of almost €81,500 after receiving an allocation of €220,000 to move 20 patients into nursing homes. By 28 February the SDU had only repaid €138,528.

Naas General Hospital has been left €64,400 in the red after receiving just €15,600 of a promised €80,000 for moving 20 patients.

The Mid Western Regional Hospital Limerick was still owed €61,505 after the SDU pledged €72,000 so that it could move 20 patients, but only repaid €10,495 by 28 February. Just last week, the hospital was forced to cancel appointments for elective procedures and appeal to the public not to visit the ED unnecessarily due to an “unprecedented demand for beds”.

Connolly Hospital was still awaiting €59,000 after being promised €205,000 to move 15 patients. This publication recently revealed that the Blanchardstown hospital had been instructed to reduce spending on agency staff and overtime by almost 40 per cent to avoid sliding into debt of more than €10 million by the end of 2011.

Other hospitals left in debt include the Mater Hospital, which was owed €42,489, St James’s Hospital which was owed €34,249, St Vincent’s Hospital/St Columcille’s Hospital, which were owed €22,897, and the Midland Regional Hospital, Portlaoise which was owed €9,400.

Galway University Hospital received the largest funding allocation of €349,000 for the transfer of just six patients and has to date been paid €347,374, leaving a small shortfall of €1,626.

As of the end of February, four hospitals had received their full SDU allocation: Tallaght Hospital, which was approved €96,000 to move 10 patients; Cavan General Hospital, which received €92,480 to move 10 patients; the Midland Regional Hospital, Tullamore which received €30,900 to move 15 patients; and Portiuncula which received €10,500 to move three patients.

In total the SDU has committed €4.88 million to the initiative and to date, has paid out €3.71 million to hospitals