SHB staff overpaid by €670,000 in past three years

STAFF at the former Southern Health Board were overpaid almost €670,000 in the past three years, it has emerged.

One nurse was contacted by an official from the Health Service Executive (HSE) Southern Area, as it is now known, informing her that she had been overpaid by nearly €70,000 over the past four years due to a glitch in the payroll system.

The Irish Nurses Organisation (INO) in the south has said it has been dealing with at least five nurses in Cork and Kerry who were facing bills of up to 5€0,000 as their payroll system had incorrectly paid them for full-time work when they had cut back their hours years previously.

It said it was planning bringing one of these cases before a Rights Commissioner as the woman had problems repaying all of the money.

The HSE Southern Area has confirmed these overpayments were highlighted when internal audits were completed within the health board.

Nurses believe that many of the recent overpayments were highlighted as the HSE Southern Area began to prepare for the changeover to the PPARS computer system. However, that changeover has now been postponed, pending a review.

Overpayments of up to €200,000 were made in 2002, another €249,000 was overpaid in 2003 and approximately €219,063 last year.

Southern INO industrial relations officer Patsy Doyle said it was “incredible” that the system was only now picking up errors that had been made for years.

“The lack of accountability is incredible. How could this have happened for years and not been noticed? Why aren’t people being held accountable for this but it is putting a lot of people under huge amounts of stress knowing that they owe so much money?” she said.

A spokeswoman for the HSE said they paid out nearly €6 million in salaries last year and that the overpayments were minor in comparison.

“If and when an overpayment is made, the amount paid out is recouped in full very quickly or, by mutual agreement with the staff member, over a period of time depending on the sum in question,” she said.

It has already emerged that a nurse was mistakenly paid €1m by the controversial PPARS system.

Details obtained under a Freedom of Information request highlighted a number of other others including:

A nurse in Cork overpaid by €3,000.

43% of respondents in a Midland Health Board had found a mistake in their payslip.

Nurses in Wexford and Donegal were also overpaid.