Solutions in health are long overdue

The health service will start 2018 with what amounts to a €346 million budget shortfall. The HSE has claimed that this “challenge” will be addressed through a Value Improvement Programme.

It is difficult to reconcile the HSE’s new-found optimism regarding potential savings, with its repeated requests for financial bailouts in recent years. Last year, the Department of Health told it to draw up detailed plans for making savings and maximising efficiencies across the ...