HSE staff overpaid by €400,000 in payroll error

HSE managers in Cork and Kerry are accidentally over-paying workers by as much as €400,000 in total a year due to a series of payroll system errors — with some recipients refusing to give the money back.

The situation, which is likely to have been repeated in other parts of the country, is revealed in a 24-page HSE internal audit report specifically focussing on the region.

The document, made public yesterday, shows that despite growing concern over the health service’s growing mountain of debt, simple errors which could be easily avoided are adding to taxpayers’ woes.

According to the internal document — where the most up-to-date available figures relate to the full-year 2010 accounts — at the start of 2010 the Cork and Kerry region had an overpayment level of €406,786.

A further €248,572 was added to this over the year, with €259,223 repaid — meaning the Dec 2010 overpayment figure stood at €396,134.

While the figure is a small part of the area’s annual €810.3m payroll, it included 246 overpayment cases ranging from €53 to €70,410.

Among these were that of an unnamed consultant who was placed on an incorrect salary level in 1994. By 2005 he owed €10,125 and said the money would be refunded “in due course”. This has not occurred.

Another case related to a nurse who, despite halving her hours of work, was still officially paid for the full work rate.

Between Apr 2007 and Oct 2008 she amassed a debt of more than €30,000, and agreed to pay off €25 per fortnight.

The audit noted this would mean she would have to work for another 46 years, long past her expected retirement age.

The audit noted that cases like these were common in the system, with a “wide-scale resistance” to returning unintentional salary increases which the report said should be addressed by the civil courts if necessary.

The situation came as Taoiseach Enda Kenny moved to again re-assurethe public that chronic HSE over-spending would be addressed without damaging patient services.

He made the comment during a meeting with Health Minister James Reilly as part of the Cabinet’s sub-committee on health, which also includes Finance Minister Michael Noonan, to discuss the HSE deficit, which stood at €280m at the end of May.

Mr Kenny said immediate steps would have to be taken to curb spending.