OVER €3.4 BILLION was distributed to health agencies in 2012, including €16.2 million to the scandal-hit CRC and €41.3 million to the Rehab Group, whose operations have come under scrutiny in the last 24 hours.
Figures disclosed in answer to a parliamentary question by the Fine Gael TD Simon Harris give a detailed breakdown of how the HSE distributes grants and funding to the various hospitals and health agencies operating in the State.
The figures show that a total of €3.464 billion was distributed among over 700 agencies and hospitals in 2012, up from €3.449 billion distributed in 2011, but down on the €3.647 billion that was distributed in 2010.
Harris was unable to secure details of the release of grants in 2013 and 2014 as the HSE has not completed its audit of the figures.
The Central Remedial Clinic (CRC) and St Vincent’s Hospital, both of which have made headlines recently, fall under section 38 of the Health Act 2004 and are among 25 non-acute agencies and 16 voluntary acute hospitals which are currently within the HSE’s Employment Control Framework.
Figures for the CRC show, as in the case of many others, that HSE grants have reduced in the period between 2010 and 2012. The CRC got €17.3 million in 2010 but this fell by over a million by 2012 to €16.2 million.
In the case of St Vincent’s University Hospital in Elm Park, it got €206.7 million in 2012, down on the €211.8 million in 2011, and €227.2 million that was paid out in 2010.
Section 39 relates to non-acute and community agencies which are similar or ancillary to the HSE, but for services which the Executive is not obliged to provide.
These include the Rehab Group, which Justice Minister Alan Shatter revealed last night sold nearly €4 million in lottery scratch cards in 2010 and made less than €10,000 in profit on them.
The figures revealed today show that in that year Rehab Group received €42.7 million from the HSE as part of nearly €126 million in State funding between 2010 and 2012.
Most hospitals and agencies have seen a reduction in funding over the last two years.
However, exceptions include Tallaght Hospital, also known as the Adelaide and Meath Hospital, which incorporates the National Children’s Hospital which received an increase in funding in 2012 to €218.7 million – up from 2011 figure of €188.6 million.
Others who have also seen increases include the Incorporated Orthopaedic Hospital of Ireland which got €7.5 million in 2012, up from €7.3 million the year before, and the National Rehabilitation Hospital got €26.2 million in 2012, up from €25.6 million in 2011.
In total section 38 agencies got €2.65 billion in 2012, down from €2.8 billion in 2011, while section 39 agencies received a total of €765.9 million in 2012, down from €788.7 million in 2010.
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