Report recommends fairer system of EURO 5bn resource allocation by HSE
-25 January 2010

Report recommends fairer system of €5bn resource allocation by HSE - based on age, sex and estimated need

A new report recommending a fairer system of resource allocation by the Health Services Executive will be launched today.

The report, 'Towards a model of Resource allocation for Primary, Community and Continuing Care in the health services aims to develop a sustainable and defensible method of allocating resources for Primary, Community and Continuing Care (PCCC) in all the local health areas.

The PCCC Directorate is responsible for providing a range of social support services, including mental health, child care, disability, social inclusion, elderly and nursing home, speech and language, public health and paramedic services.

The government currently spends €4.9bn on Primary, Community and Continuing Care.

According to Professor Anthony Staines, Principal Investigator on the research team, "Our report found two distinct problems with the current situation: the resources per capita vary greatly between local health offices (LHOs), for historical reasons; and the financial systems do not permit proper analysis at LHO level.

The research team are recommending a more equitable and efficient system for the distribution of funding to the local health areas which will ensure that the each member of Irish society is provided with access to health services in proportion to their need for those services. The new model of distribution would be fairer, and would ensure greater accountability. It is a matter of urgency that the new model suggested in this report be implemented in a staged manner as soon as possible to improve on the current situation", he said.

In the new proposed model, the population in each LHO in the country would be weighted by size, age and sex, which are specific estimates of healthcare need.

The report complements work underway in the HSE around resource allocation in acute hospital services. The findings of this report will help senior HSE managers to develop more effective and efficient models of allocating funding which will result in a more equitable distribution of health services to the general public.

The report concludes that the HSE's current information systems are inadequate. There is a need to consider ways of integrating existing and newly collected data to provide more reliable, robust and updated measures of health need. It should collect data on the relationship between deprivation and health service use.

One unit within the HSE should have direct operational responsibility for running all the major health information systems.

The HSE should establish a small group including HSE staff, civil servants, academics and others with responsibility for developing,improving and maintaining the resource allocation model.

Other recommendations include the setting up of hierarchical boundaries for all services, a central geocoding system which would record all changes of address; the carrying out of regular health service utilization surveys and regular reviews of Healthstat.

Professor Staines said, "There are currently no unique personal identifiers that run across the Irish health system. This leads to significant costs and a risk of serious errors. The report recommends that the HSE establish such a system as a priority in line with the recent HIQA report".

Research for the report was carried out by Professor Anthony Staines of Dublin City University, Dr Michelle Butler and Professor Cecily Kelleher of UCD, Dr Martin Charlton, Dr Ronan Foley and Professor Dennis Pringle of Maynooth and Professor Dave Gordon of University of Bristol.