HSE defends security bill for troubled teenagers

The security bill for Kerry General Hospital for the first nine months of 2012 was almost 10 times the cost of security services at Cork University Hospital.

The HSE insisted last night that the huge variation in costs between the smaller general hospital in Tralee and the regional hospital in Cork “was not comparable” as the hospitals operate different security systems.

A spokesman said: “Security at CUH is primarily operated by in-house HSE security staff that are on the HSE payroll and only a small proportion of their security is provided by a private security firm.

“On the other hand, all security at KGH is provided by a private security firm, Noonan Services Ltd.”

He said security on all HSE sites was required to ensure that patients, staff, and visitors, as well as the premises, equipment, and grounds, are kept safe.

KGH, it emerged, paid the Dublin-based security company €710,133 for services for Jan-Sept 2012.

The hospital’s security bill for the 12 months of 2011 was €511,290.

In contrast, the security bill at CUH, which is much larger than KGH, was €275,275, in 2011.

However, the spend for Jan-Sept 2012 was just over €72,000.

The HSE added: “The total cost for those services for 2012 was €671,000. The figure for the same period in 2011 was €631,000.

“The increased cost of approximately €40,000 in 2012 was due to a number of factors, including an increase in campus size, with additional building to be monitored, and additional costs in the mental health unit.”

According to figures in the medical journal Medical Independent, Mallow General Hospital spent just over €102,000 on security, in 2011 and €97,338, for the first nine months of 2012.

Bantry General Hospital spent €117,445 in 2011 and at least €97,976, in 2012.

The security bill at St Mary’s Orthopaedic Hospital, Cork, fell from €187,410 in 2011 to €34,260 last year.

Meanwhile, the HSE yesterday came under fire after it emerged that a security bill at a special care centre for troubled teens exceeded €4,000 per week in 2011.

The HSE spent €240,486 on security at Coovagh House in Limerick in 2011, more than €60,000 per teenager that resided at the centre in 2011.

Coovagh closed for upgrade work in July 2011, and the HSE confirmed yesterday that only four teenagers resided at the centre in 2011.

Four teenagers have been placed at Coovagh since it reopened in June, and there are currently three teenagers residing at the centre.

Coovagh House is part of a network of three special care units for young people, with the others located at Ballydowd in Dublin and Gleann Alainn in Cork.

Security costs at Ballydowd for 2011 totalled €70,000 and security costs at Gleann Alainn amounted to €4,799.

The HSE confirmed that, in relation to Coovagh House, security firm G4 Security charged €4,059 per week to the HSE for security at the centre in 2011.