Auditor General queries prescribing costs

LIVING quarters provided by the Defence Forces for serving members are under-used and sometimes abused, the Comptroller and Auditor General’s (CAG) report has found.

Just 77% of married quarters and only 59% of single quarters were occupied with continued difficulties over the occupation of living quarters by some members who had been discharged, but refused to move.

Of 54 such properties identified in 2002 the CAG was told that 10 had since been vacated, four had been bought by the occupiers and a further 11 had been offered for sale to the occupiers, leaving continuing uncertainty over 29.

The CAG John Purcell also looked at the prescribing practices among general practitioners and found that the number of doctors meeting targets for the reduction of prescribing costs had fallen since he last raised the issue in the late 1990s.

Under the Indicative Drug Target Scheme, GPs are encouraged to prescribe cheaper generic or non-brand drugs instead of their pharmaceutical equivalent, but while 26.52% of GPs were making savings in 2000, that percentage fell to 2.75% in 2005.

The CAG noted two separate assessments; one that said savings of €1.65 million could be made each year if more generic drugs were used and one that put potential savings at as much as €12.7m annually.

Costs were also queried in the administration of supplementary welfare allowances after an earlier report showed the cost of administering a single claim varied from €24 in the North Western Health Board to €55 in the South Eastern Health Board.

The CAG found there were still major variations, with unit costs running at 4.9% in the former Eastern Health Board area and 10.2% in the former Southern Health Board area. One explanation offered was variations in the costs of travel and office rents for community welfare officers depending on location.

Another area which attracted concern in the late 1990s was confusion over roles and responsibilities in inland fisheries with local authorities, regional fisheries boards and the Department of Marine and Natural Resources all involved in one way or another.

The CAG noted that his earlier report found a “lack of clarity, duplication of activities and one instance (responsibility for the overseas promotion of angling) where no responsibility was assigned”.

One service which responded well to earlier criticisms by the CAG was Met Éireann which previously had no way of assessing the accuracy levels of its forecast. Mr Purcell’s report shows that accuracy records for minimum and maximum temperatures as well as rainfall are presently compiled and published in Met Éireann’s annual report.

With regard to wind warnings, accuracy is measured in “hits, misses and false alarms”. In 2005 the hit rate, that requires at least a 12-hour warning, was 80% while false alarms accounted for just 2%.