THE HSE has long looked for outside help to solve its problems, spending millions over the years outsourcing recruitment and surgical procedures.
Indeed, dozens of children have been sent abroad for spinal ops as they are still waiting too long in Ireland.
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The HSE spent almost €93 million last year on providing patients with private mental health careCredit: Getty
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Marie Sherlock is calling on the HSE to urgently act to reduce our dependence on private providersCredit: � 2023 PA Media, All Rights Reserved
Every week, we hear stories from desperate families, parents navigating endless waiting lists, young people in crisis and overstretched staff trying to do more with less.
New stats provided to Labour’s health spokeswoman Marie Sherlock show the true scale of the issue.
Figures reveal the State is spending almost €93 million every year on outsourcing mental health care – particularly to the UK.
Writing in The Irish Sun today, the Dublin Central TD says Ireland must urgently invest in public health care.
FOR many in the Government, the mantra is that the private sector can fix everything.
But for some of our most vulnerable and unwell people in Irish society, it is simply not acceptable that we rely to such a large extent on the private sector to deliver mental health care.
Figures released to me show that the HSE spent almost €93 million last year on providing patients with private mental health care.
This figure has almost DOUBLED in just eight years from €46 million in 2018.
The alarming figures are a clear indictment of our public mental health services.
The State is increasingly relying on private providers to deliver care that should be provided directly through the public system.
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Already, €7.5 million has been spent this year. This level of outsourcing is simply unsustainable and reflects deep structural failings in the public system.
What’s more shocking is the scale of reliance on mental health services in the UK.
We spent nothing on care in the UK in 2018 and 2019.
That figure has now exploded to almost €13 million in 2024 — double what was spent in 2023.
We now have a situation where Irish patients are being sent across the Irish Sea, far from their homes, and support networks, because we cannot provide appropriate care here.
INABILITY TO MEET PATIENT NEEDS
That is completely unacceptable.
The HSE has confirmed this outsourcing is driven by an inability to meet patient needs within our own services.
They are struggling to provide secure settings for children, care for people with multi-axial disorders, and specialist services for severe eating disorders.
This is a failure of planning, investment and, ultimately, leadership.
We all understand the need for the need for an emergency fix when someone is in real crisis.
SERIOUS MISTAKE
But it is a serious mistake to build up a long-term reliance on the private sector and on sending people abroad.
Outsourcing means someone is making a handsome profit off the back of taxpayers’ money and crucially, we as a State are failing to build up the necessary capacity in our own health service in terms of doctor and nursing staff.
While this spending ensures patients do get some form of care, it must be a wake-up call. That €93 million should be going towards building our own capacity — hiring more staff, opening more beds, and delivering care locally.
PRIVATE PAY
Instead, we are writing cheques to private providers — many of whom are also employing the nurses and clinicians we trained in our public system.
I know from speaking with frontline staff that our public mental health services are buckling under the pressure of poor staffing levels.
Managers have told me of losing staff to private providers. And most crucial are the patients who are left with no choice but to pay for expensive care in the private sector or travel abroad.
Many workers are leaving for the private sector where pay and conditions are better — and then the HSE ends up paying those same providers to deliver care. It’s a bizarre and wasteful cycle.
URGENT RESET NEEDED
We urgently need a reset. The HSE must address these runaway costs and shift its focus to building up local, public mental health services.
That means investing in specialist units, increasing the number of funded posts, and ensuring fair pay and decent working conditions for staff.
We in Labour are calling on the HSE to urgently act to reduce dependence on private providers, invest in public capacity, and increase funded posts across the public mental health system.
The HSE must urgently wean itself off private providers, invest in public services, and treat staff with the respect they deserve.
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The HSE has confirmed this outsourcing is driven by an inability to meet patient needs within our own servicesCredit: Getty Images – Getty