The HSE will have just €115 million extra to spend on health services in 2015.

It has just published its 2015 National Service Plan (NSP), which details the type and volume of services it will provide as part of Budget 2015.

While the funding allocated to the HSE for this period includes an additional €625 million - a 5.4% increase - this figure includes the 2014 deficit of €510 million, meaning that the net increase for next year will be just €115 million.

Meanwhile, the HSE must also achieve a minimum savings target of €130 million and a minimum increased revenue target of €10 million next year.

According to HSE director general, Tony O'Brien, its main challenge is to ‘operate within the resources made available to it, while delivering existing levels of service, some targeted improvements and continuing the health service reform programme'.

He said that while the additional funding ‘will support the HSE in maintaining existing levels of service, it will not however be sufficient to fully address the increasing demands being placed on our hospital system, in particular the growing waiting lists for elective admissions'.

"Furthermore it has not been possible to secure funding for the full amount of the HSE's 2015 Estimates requests, and there are some additional service pressures which will fail to be addressed in future years," he noted.

Some of the key areas covered by the 2015 NSP include:
-An additional €35 million is being provided for mental health services
-an additional €25 million has been allocated to ‘begin to address delayed discharges'. This funding will be targeted at areas such as homecare packages, long-term care beds and the Fair Deal Nursing Home Support Scheme
-An additional €20 million has been provided for disability services

Some of the specific commitments in the plan include:
-Extending the Stroke Clinical Programme on a national basis, with five hub hospitals providing telemedicine support to 17 other hospitals in this area
-Funding has been protected for Local Drug Task Forces
-Acute medical assessment units in some hospitals are to have increased opening hours to seven days per week.

Meanwhile Mr O'Brien insisted that those working in the health service are its ‘most important resource' and staff have made ‘a remarkable contribution in what has been an extremely challenging year'.

Also commenting on the new 2015 plan, Health Minister, Leo Varadkar, described the funding as ‘a modest increase after many years of significant reductions'. However, he acknowledged that ‘the management of the budget within the available resources is going to require an exceptional management focus'.

"That's why a considerably enhanced governance and accountability framework has been put in place for 2015 and beyond. This states that all managers have a responsibility to deliver on the targets set out in the service plan," he noted.

This framework clearly states the responsibility of all managers to deliver on the targets set out in the NSP.

"Performance of individual managers will be monitored on a monthly basis. If individual managers do not meet targets then mechanisms will be identified to assist them. A scorecard system will be put in place against which managers will have their performance assessed, on issues like access to services, safety of services, finance, and workforce.

"There will be formal performance agreements at a national and local level. Every manager will have explicit management targets. There will be specific arrangements to address areas where underperformance starts to escalate, which will specify the actions to be taken to address this performance," the Department of Health added.