“Bailout of €680m” for HSE the biggest in its 10-year history
The Minister for Health Leo Varadkar.
Department says overrun will not reduce funds available to health service next year
The Department of Health is seeking a €680 million supplementary budget for the Health Service Executive next month, the largest in the history of the health service, the Department of Public Expenditure has confirmed.
The figure includes a €510 million minimum overrun on the cost of running the health service, as well as increased costs incurred by the State Claims Agency as a result of a rise in claims.
The larger-than-expected bailout for the Department of Health will mean the equivalent sum is carried forward into next year’s account, though Minister for Health Leo Varadkar insists it will have no impact on the funding available next year.
The amount sought demonstrates the intense pressure on the health budget, and the task ahead for Mr Varadkar should demand for services continue to rise.
A number of other departments have also sought supplementary budgets.
The Department of Health said the extra money sought for the HSE reflected increased levels of activity, such as more emergency admissions, more demand for bed days and more elderly patients with complex needs.
Mr Varadkar said the extra money for the HSE has already been included in the base for next year’s expenditure.
Some €54 million is being sought for payments by the HSE to the State Claims Agency. “The timing of income collection and working capital requirements associated with prior years contributes a further €108 million cash requirement in 2014,” the Department said.
Mr Varadkar said these were once-off costs and would not recur next year.
The supplementary budget also includes €5 million for an early access programme to drugs for high-risk patients with Hepatitis C and €3 million to allow an initiative to tackle delayed discharges start this year. through the release of 300 additional places on the Fair Deal scheme.
“The supplementary budget will have no impact whatsoever on the budget for the Department of Health for next year and the HSE Service Plan announced last week is unaffected and the figures remain unchanged,” the Minister said.
The Department says savings of €4 million will reduce the cost to the Exchequer of the supplementary estimate.
The HSE has required a supplementary estimate in all but two years of its 10-year history but this bailout is the largest since it was set up in2005. In 2010, a €595 million supplementary budget was required to shore up its finances.
HSE secretary general Tony O’Brien has argued that half of this year’s overrun is due to issues beyond its control, such as unspecified pay savings and a pensions excess. However, hospital overspending is projected to hit €273 million by the end of the year.
Bishops say same-sex marriage would be
‘A grave injustice’
Bishop Kevin Doran, Bishop of Elphin, and Bishop Liam MacDaid, Bishop of Clogher and chair of the Council for Marriage and Family of the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference at the media launch of The Meaning of Marriage, a pastoral statement by the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference.
The leaflet highlights ‘uniqueness of the role of husbands and wives’
Allowing same-sex marriage would be a “grave injustice” and a disservice to society, according to members of a representative body for Catholic bishops in Ireland.
Speaking at the launch of a leaflet entitled “The Meaning of Marriage” in Maynooth, high-ranking clergy from the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference set out the church’s stall in the run-up to an expected referendum on same-sex marriage next spring.
“The view of marriage as being between man and a woman and for life, that’s not something which is particular to Catholics and Christians. There are people of all kinds of other religious beliefs, and of none, who believe in that,” said Bishop Liam MacDaid of Clogher, who is chair of the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference council for marriage.
“To put any other view of marriage on the same level as Christian marriage would be a disservice to society rather than a service,” added Bishop MacDaid, who was flanked by fellow bishop Kevin Doran of Elphin following the organisation’s two-day winter conference in St Patrick’s College.
“While there’s sort of an assumption that this referendum [passing] is a no-brainer, in some societies the legislature has legislated for same-sex marriage, but in other societies- almost everywhere there has been a same-sex referendum- it has been rejected… Our hope would be that the referendum would be defeated,” saidBishop Doran, who courted publicity last week for his concessionary stance on inheritance rights for same-sex couples.
The bishops’ remarks came upon the release of the eight-page leaflet on marriage, which contends that “it is a grave injustice if the State ignores the uniqueness of the role of husbands and wives, and the importance of mothers and fathers in our society”.
Placing a heavy emphasis on the responsibility of a functioning, heterosexual relationship in the child rearing process, the publication states that the “upbringing of children is uniquely possible” through conventional, church-endorsed marital relationships.
It goes on to say that “the union of marriage provides for the continuation of the human race and the development of human society”, and that “marriage of a woman and a man is a fundamental building block of society which makes a unique and irreplaceable contribution to the common good and to society as well”.
It is thought that today’s comments from church officials marks the opening salvo in a concerted effort to sway public opinion against same-sex marriages ahead of next year’s referendum. According to the latest Irish Times/Ipsos MRBI poll, 67 per cent of Irish people support the notion of same-sex marriage being constitutionally enshrined, with just 20 per cent of respondents opposed to such a move.
Sligo hospital issues apology to Sally Rowlette family
SAOLTA HOSPITAL GROUP SAYS SERVICES HAVE IMPROVED IN MATERNITY UNIT SINCE HER DEATH.
Sean Rowlette and his children who’s wife, Sally Rowlette (36), died in child birth at Sligo Regional Hospital.
Sligo Regional Hospital and the Saolta hospital group of which it is a member have apologised to the family of Sally Rowlette, who died in the hospital last year.
In a statement offering their condolences, they said they were apologising “for the events related to her care that contributed to her tragic death”.
Maternity and ICU services in the hospital have improved over the past number of years, according to the statement, and the delivery of quality safe patient care continues to be a priority.
The national maternity early warning score has been implemented for all pregnant women attending the hospital and will help ensure the early detection of any deteriorating patient, it says.
A post-natal communication process has been established for women with severe Hellp syndrome, an acute form of pre-eclampsia, and all incident reports are analysed as part of a risk management process.
On Wednesday, a jury returned a verdict of death by medical misadventure in the case of Ms Rowlette, who died in February 2013 a day after giving birth to her fourth child. The inquest heard evidence that she was a victim of a “broad systems failure”
UPC to acquire wi-fi provider Bitbuzz for some €5-€6 million
Bitbuzz managing director Shane Deasy above
Telecoms provider snaps up Irish-owned wi-fi company
Broadband provider UPC Ireland is to acquire Irish-owned wi-fi company Bitbuzz for an undisclosed sum thought to be in the region of €5-€6 million.
Bitbuzz, which is headquartered in Dublin, specialises in offering wifi to the tourism, retail and leisure sectors, notably hotels and cafes in Ireland and Britain.
It recently won contracts with stores operated by the Cork-based wholesale group Musgrave, Insomnia and Costa Coffee.
UPC Ireland chief executive Magnus Ternsjö confirmed the deal at a media lunch hosted by the company on Thursday.
He declined to disclose further details of the acquisition but said it would be a cash deal and that the wifi service would continue to operate under the Bitbuzz brand.
Bitbuzz founders Shane Deasy and Alex French are to leave the company following the acquisition.
Providing internet services via wifi has become increasingly competitive with a number of high-profile companies vying for market share.
UPC’s move is designed to strengthen the company’s presence in the hospitality, health and education markets, where Bitbuzz is prominent.
With Bitbuzz’s market position and UPC’s fixed-line capacity, the deal is perceived to deliver significant synergies.
Bitbuzz passed something of a milestone when revenues break the €1 million mark in the first half of this year.
Its managing director Shane Deasy said recently the company planned to hire about a dozen more staff by the end of the year as part of an expansion of its activities in Ireland and Britain.
Crows show tendency to be left or right beaked after a study of skills put to the test
Scientists have been examining the tool skills of crows.
Crows famous for their tool-wielding show a tendency to be left or right beaked that mirrors handedness in humans, scientists have found.
Individual New Caledonian crows display a preference for holding a stick tool on the right or left side of their beaks.
Researchers believe the birds may be trying to keep the tip of the stick in view of the eye on the opposite side of their heads.
Lead scientist Dr Alejandro Kacelnik, from Oxford University, said: “If you were holding a brush in your mouth and one of your eyes was better than the other at brush length, you would hold the brush so that its tip fell in view of the better eye. This is what the crows do.”
New Caledonian crows have surprised experts with their ability to use sticks to extract larvae from burrows and, in captivity, retrieve food placed out of reach.
The new study, published in the journal Current Biology, also suggests that the birds’ unusually wide field of vision actually helps them to see better with one eye.
Co-author Dr Antone Martinho, also from Oxford University, said: “We thought that their binocular fields would facilitate binocular vision, perhaps allowing the birds to judge the distance from tool tip to target. It turned out that, most frequently, they only see the tool tip and target with one eye at a time.”
Dr Kacelnik added: “Birds and humans face similar problems in tool use and many other activities. Studying similar problems across species helps to put all of them in perspective.”
Stegosaurus skeleton to give up its dinosaur secrets
Scientists have begun the most detailed analysis ever carried out on a stegosaurus skeleton.
Although stegosauruses are one of the most well-known dinosaurs, it is among those scientists know the least about.
There are only six partial skeletons of the creature, which lived around 150 million years ago.
This specimen, nicknamed “Sophie”, has been acquired by the Natural History Museum in London.
A UK team has scanned each of its 360 bones into a computer and has digitally reconstructed the animal.
Professor Paul Barrett, who is leading the research, told BBC News more about what they were hoping to find out.
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