HSE official gets full €138k salary on gardening leave

A senior HSE official who has been on gardening leave for the past 18 months due to a multimillion-euro conflict of interest probe is still receiving his full €138,000 salary.

Gerard Hurl has been paid over €200,000 since he was “temporarily” replaced as HSE national ICT director by Fran Thompson in Sept 2010.

The senior official was asked to step aside from the role — which involves the overseeing of a €100m-plus health service IT budget — due to his involvement in the independent Healthcare Informatics Society of Ireland umbrella group.

This organisation, which Mr Hurl has chaired since 2003, represents over 700 IT companies in Ireland, all of which pay a €15,000 annual membership fee for the support.

While the HSE investigation is yet to be concluded, trade newspaper the Medical Independent said Mr Hurl was still receiving his full salary.

The conflict of interest probe began in Sept 2010 when HSE management — including the internal audit section and then HSE chief executive Prof Brendan Drumm — were made aware of claims Mr Hurl’s role in the HISI was allegedly impacting on his public service position.

It is specifically examining claims from some companies which believed if they did not accept HISI membership invitations they might find it more difficult to win subsequent HSE tenders.

Among the HISI member companies awarded HSE contracts in the recent past are Hewlett Packard, iSoft, and McKesson.

The latter firm was chosen as the HSE’s preferred supplier for a national radiology picture archiving and communications system contract worth up to €50m in the 12 months before the allegations emerged.

Questions have also been asked over the HSE ICT section’s promotion of certificates offered by HISI and ProRec, a related company of which Mr Hurl is a director.

HISI offers to certify health IT professionals and ProRec provides a quality assurance label, though neither has a statutory role.

Mr Hurl has always denied any wrongdoing.

A spokesperson for the HISI, which Mr Hurl chairs, said the group’s 10-strong executive body, of which he is a member, would not respond to an Irish Examiner request for comment on why he is still being paid a salary or on the ongoing investigation.

This is because “this matter is between the HSE and Mr Hurl, and the HISI executive do not comment on matters arising between members and their employers”.

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