Health budgets have ‘consistently been set at completely unrealistic levels' in recent years, hospital consultants have claimed.

According to the Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA), hospital and mental health services have not been provided with adequate funding, which has resulted in a system that is failing the patients it is there to serve.

"The unrelenting focus on futile attempts to balance inadequate budgets has resulted in years of failure to invest in essential increases in acute hospital capacity, new technology and equipment. As a result, Ireland's acute health infrastructure is now crumbling, with many hospitals attempting to treat patients with inadequate capacity and equipment that is increasingly obsolete," commented IHCA president, Dr Tom Ryan.

He inisisted that if these issues are to be properly tackled and the cuts of recent years are to be reversed, the Government must substantially increase funding for capital expenditure and frontline services.

"After years of austerity, the Government must now address these overwhelming constraints, which are severely restricting and jeopardising the delivery of timely high-quality safe care to patients," Dr Ryan said.

He made his comments at the launch of the IHCA's 2017 pre-budget submission. It is calling for an immediate increase in the number of acute, ICU and rehabilitation beds and an immediate increase in the availability of step-down care and other facilties, in order to support the timely discharge of patients from acute hospitals.

The IHCA is also calling for a significant increase in the mental health budget so that services can be improved and to ensure that children and teenagers get the care they need in an age-appropriate setting.

The 2017 submission also highlights the issue of staff recruitment and retention, with Dr Ryan insisting that Ireland ‘is no longer internationally competitive in attracting highly trained specialists in the numbers needed to treat a growing number of patients and to develop the public helath system'.

Meanwhile the submission also expresses concern about the increasing cost of clinical indemnity, which is forcing some consultants to restrict or cease practising.

The IHCA ‘strongly recommends that proposals to lower the indemnity caps and the provision of indemnity on a commercial basis through the State Claims Agency for consultants practising in private hospitals, should be brought to Cabinet as a matter of priority'.