HSE’s 2023 National Service Plan allocates an additional 5.7 percent budget above last year
The Health Service Executive (HSE) has published the 2023 National Service Plan, which has allocated a budget of €21.124bn, which is 5.7 percent above last year’s starting budget.
The National Service Plan (NSP2023), approved by the Minister for Health Mr Stephen Donnelly, TD, outlines the health and social care services to be provided to the people in the Republic of Ireland this year.
It includes an additional €240.2m investment in new service developments, €564.5m one-off funding for Covid-19 costs, and €899.2m to fund increased costs of providing the existing level of service to cover non pay inflation and national pay awards.
From a health and social care perspective, the aims of the NSP2023 are to build further on hospital and community services capacity and improve access to services.
Sláintecare is the term for the proposed reform of the healthcare system in the Republic of Ireland.
Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly said: “I am pleased to approve the HSE National Service Plan for 2023 which reflects the provision by this Government of the largest budget allocation to the HSE in the history of the State.
“This unprecedented level of investment further supports the resilience and preparedness of the health service to increase capacity and permanent staffing levels, to progress the implementation of national strategies and to advance the vision of universal healthcare based on the strategic reform set out in the Programme for Government and Sláintecare.
“This ongoing reform will ensure the provision of a public health service which provides people with access to high quality, affordable care when they need it.
“I look forward to ongoing collaborative engagement with the HSE Board, CEO and Executive in the implementation of the measures set out in the NSP.”
Key priorities for 2023
Hospitals
Additional general acute beds will come on stream in 2023, bringing the total increase since 2020 to 1,179 by the end of 2023 along with additional critical care beds, bringing the total to 352 by the end of this year.
HSE states it will continue to deliver safe, timely access to hospital care by implementing a range of measures to ensure better access to unscheduled care, improved cancer care and prevention, and to build on proven waiting list initiatives and ambitious waiting time targets have been set for outpatients.
Community
The HSE’s Enhanced Community Care (ECC) programme is enhancing and increasing community health services and reducing pressure on hospital services. This means more services closer to where people live. Especially for older people and people with chronic disease.
The programme helps health and social care services to manage care at a local level and support the transition from hospitals to the community.
ECC is a €240 million investment in community health services that is part of the Sláintecare programme.
The Enhanced Community Care Programme (ECC) will continue to roll out nationally to ensure more people can access healthcare in their local community rather than within the acute hospital setting.
The ECC will include the continued development of 96 Community Healthcare Networks, each servicing a population of 50,000, 30 community specialist teams for older persons and 30 community specialist teams for people living with chronic disease.
Disability
An additional €25.0m will be spent on disability services including over 70,000 additional hours of personal assistant support to people with disabilities and 1,250 new day services placements for school leavers and graduates of rehabilitative training in line with the New Directions policy.
New Directions is the HSE’s approach to supporting adults with disabilities who use day services in Ireland. New Directions sets out 12 supports that should be available to people with disabilities using ‘day services’.
It proposes that ‘day services’ should take the form of individualised outcome-focussed supports to allow adults using those services to live a life of their choosing in accordance with their own wishes, needs and aspirations.
There is a structure set up within the nine HSE Community Healthcare Organisations (CHO) nationally to implement New Directions. These CHO New Directions Implementation Groups have representatives from every HSE funded adult day Service Provider within the CHO area.
The delivery of a range of specialist community-based disability services will undergo improvements and increase service capacity in the areas of day, respite, multi-disciplinary, residential and personal assistant services as well as progressing the delivery of the Assessment of Need process in line with legislative obligations.
Speaking about the HSE’s priorities for 2023, Mr Ciarán Devane, HSE Chairman, commented: “Supporting the delivery of universal healthcare and delivering the reforms outlined in Sláintecare remain the priorities for the HSE.
“Waiting lists for scheduled care in hospitals and long waits in emergency departments, particularly for older people and those who have more complex needs, remain a concern and a priority for the organisation.
“Our reform programme continues to seek to address this, as well as addressing waiting times for mental health and community-based services, with the ultimate aim of improving the patient / service user experience through innovative initiatives including the ongoing digitisation of our health service.”