Hospital had to ask HSE for new kettle
Staff at the surgical department of Letter-kenny General Hospital in Co Donegal were left stuck for a cuppa when their kettle packed in.
And to make matters worse, management at the hospital were forced to apply to an outside area management office in Manorhamilton, Co Leitrim.
The hospital was recently allocated an increase of 7% in its annual budget — bringing it to €100.4m.
However, staff have been told to be careful on all general purch-asing.
The HSE said last night that its financial position was very challenging and significant efforts were being made to reduce expenditure in areas that did not impact on frontline services.
“As part of an ongoing cost containment programme, all areas of expenditure are under constant review and we have processes in place to ensure that all expenditure is approved accordingly — these processes apply to all purchases, whether a single item or a large supply order,” said a spokesman.
“As part of these processes, orders for non-clinical supplies, and any area of discretionary spend are routed via the area management office for approval before the expenditure is incurred.
“These include things such as stationery, crockery, furniture, and hardware.”
The mayor of Letter-kenny, Cllr Dessie Larkin, said the simple ordering of a kettle should not need to take up val-uable time by HSE managers.
“I can understand the HSE keeping costs down but the purchase of a kettle should not need all this authorisation.
“Junior minister for finance Brian Hayes launched a purchase card scheme recently for local authorities to cover such items and cut out the need for a paper trail and additional work created by invoices and the like.
“This strikes me as the perfect candidate for this scheme and the simple purchase of a kettle should not need authorisation from hospital management.”
“I can think of a lot better ways of spending their time.”
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