HSE payment deferral not approved

THE HSE has not received board approval to defer payment of €15 million in staff expenses nor is it permitted to do so under Public Financial Procedures, the Department of Health has said.

Three ministers have condemned what appeared on Tuesday night to be a cast-iron decision to delay the payment of expenses incurred by staff in October, November and this month in order to remove an estimated €15m from its 2011 budget.

That decision had been taken in the face of the HSE’s financial difficulties, which see it facing a €300m year-end deficit.

On Tuesday night, Health Minister James Reilly said the HSE’s move was “not acceptable”.

Yesterday morning Public Service Reform Minister Brendan Howlin said every state agency had to pay its way and “living within your budget does not mean that you don’t pay your bills”.

“I have had concerns about the operation of the HSE from the minute I went into the Department of Public Expenditure,” he said. “I think it is structured badly and over-bureaucratic.”

In the Dáil yesterday afternoon, Róisín Shortall, Minister of State at the Department of Health told TDs that while a number of cost-saving proposals had been submitted by the HSE for consideration, including its proposal on travel and subsistence, “I understand that the board of the HSE has not approved this approach”.

She added that Health Minister James Reilly “cannot accept measures to effect budgetary savings which involve a simple refusal to pay staff what they are owed”.

“The HSE must comply with the requirements of the Public Financial Procedures,” she said. “This means the HSE should meet its matured liabilities. This would include travel expenses where they are due for payment.”

Ms Shortall then referred to a number of measures which, she said, should “greatly assist the HSE in achieving a balanced vote at the end of this year”.

“These include putting forward a Supplementary Estimate for the HSE,” she said. “The details of this are being finalised at present. It will include provision for a €58m shortfall in respect of the Early Retirement and Voluntary Redundancy Schemes implemented at the end of last year. The Government is also considering allocating savings from the Health and Children Vote to the HSE.”

Since the HSE’s last board meeting on October 24, the HSE has also been considering the deferral of payments to GPs and pharmacists under the primary care reimbursement scheme, as well as to nursing homes under the Fair Deal scheme and to voluntary service providers. However, the HSE said yesterday that, unlike the expenses move, no decision had been taken to activate those deferrals.