Health chiefs don't have IT spend figure
The Dáil's powerful Public Accounts Committee (PAC) heard the disturbing revelation as it began probing the €195 million PPARS payroll initiative fiasco.
Secretary general of the Department of Health Michael Scanlan indicated fragmentation in the health service before the creation of the Health Service Executive (HSE) made it difficult to track exactly how much was going into computer systems.
"I don't think up to now, and I'm not even sure today, that we could tell you that we know how much the health system is spending on ICT (information and communications technology)," he told the committee.
Mr Scanlan was giving evidence to the PAC in the wake of the Auditor General's damning report into the PPARS disaster.
That payroll project mushroomed 21 times in cost from an original €9m to an estimated final cost of €195m by next year.
Green TD Dan Boyle expressed alarm at Mr Scanlan's admission.
"They don't know how much they are spending, or even how many people are employed by the health service. It is a matter for concern. I hope we will see a tighter grip on the situation now with the creation of the HSE" he said.
Auditor General John Purcell made it clear in his report that PPARS formed just part of a multi-billion euro investment programme and said the size of the funding "demands" lessons learned in the affair be taken on board swiftly.
During evidence from HSE bosses and health and finance department officials, PAC chairman and former Health Minister Michael Noonan criticised attempts to lay the blame for PPARS on the former health board structure. "There is a kind of hand-washing going on here. It's easy to attach blame to people who no longer exist," Mr Noonan said.
Mr Scanlan said new procedures overseeing major IT projects in the health service would improve communication and management in future.
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