The Midland Regional Hospital, Mullingar has been rewarded with a €2.3 million boost in its budget, after it was named as most efficient in the country under the ‘casemix’ system.
The facility was named as the best performing of the country’s hospitals under the system, which monitors hospitals under efficiency headings including the number of patients treated and the costs compared with the performance of other facilities.
The system penalises inefficient hospitals and redirects money to more efficient ones, with Tallaght Hospital this year being penalised to the tune of €2.6 million. While the other four high performing hospitals will each receive more than €1 million extra in funding this year, Mullingar is to receive the highest adjustment.
The hospital has benefited substantially under casemix for the last number of years, having secured a positive adjustment each year since 1994.
According to the HSE, service developments which have taken place in Mullingar as a result of casemix funding over the years have included a new respiratory service which provides full bronchoscopy service, non invasive ventilation, full PFT laboratory services and lung cancer services, and a respiratory specialist nurse who provides COPD, asthma, home invasive ventilation, and long term oxygen therapy; a new consultant endocrinologist and new diabetic services including multidisciplinary general diabetic management clinics, structured education programmes, weekly multidisciplinary foot clinic and outreach monthly clinics to the Longford area; an early pregnancy unit providing a service to women with threatened complications in their early pregnancy, attended by 2,338 women in 2008; and a new bone densitometry service.
According to the HSE, it is the funding received under casemix that enables services such as these to commence and continue.
HSE general manager, Joe Martin, paid tribute to all the staff in the hospital for their effort and support in again ensuring that the hospital secured a positive casemix. “This is really down to the hard work and efforts of every member of staff in the hospital,” he said.
Welcoming the news, Mullingar’s Senator Camillus Glynn paid glowing tribute to the medical, nursing, paramedical, administrative and all staff in the hospital.
“It clearly indicates the tremendous high quality of the service provided at the hospital. I trust that this high level of service that the Mullingar Regional Hospital is accustomed to will continue, and I hope that the Health Service Executive and the Minister for Health and Children will give due recognition to this when new services are being brought on stream in the region.”
Meanwhile Deputy James Bannon said he was delighted Mullingar hospital had once again been recognised as a “model of efficiency”.
“Mullingar Regional Hospital has demonstrated that it can produce outstanding results, despite Government cutbacks in staffing levels and services,” he said.
