HSE staff overpaid by €1.7m last year

The HSE overpaid staff by more than €1.7m last year as a direct result of serious administrative errors — but are unlikely to be able to get any of it back.

Figures supplied by HSE chiefs confirm that, despite the fact hospitals and other services are struggling to give patients the care they need, the significant sums are being wrongly paid out.

Details obtained by trade newspaper Irish Medical News show that between January and December of last year, an average of €4,728 in extra pay packets were accidentally given out.

The figure is down marginally from the €1.748m for 2011, and a significant improvement on the €5.043m overpayment in 2010.

However, the rates still mean a combined €8.5m has been given out through incorrect salaries over the past three years.

Reacting to the situation, a HSE spokesperson said the issue is being taken “seriously” and that it remains a “standing item on the agenda of the audit committee”.

However, previous audit reports on the matter revealed by this newspaper make it clear the possibility of retrieving the money is slim to non-existent — despite the desperate need for funds.

According to the latest HSE internal audit report on the issue, from last summer, a sample examination of the HSE South accounts for 2010 found a €406,786 overpayment — with many of the recipients refusing to hand the money back.

Among the 246 overpayment cases examined, which ranged from €53 to €70,410, was 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 did not take place.

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 over €30,000.

While the nurse agreed to pay off €25 per fortnight once the issue was identified, the audit team noted this offer meant she would have to work for another 46 years, long past her expected retirement age and a solution considered unworkable.

An earlier audit of the HSE South region found further concerns, including:

nA retired academic consultant at UCC was given “considerable overpayments” because his pension and lump sum was calculated on the HSE paying 100% of his salary. The health service was in fact paying 71% of his salary;

nThe misreading of a pension order led to an overpayment to a deceased employee’s family of €13,781 between 2005 and 2009;

nThe child of a deceased employee was paid €3,727 more than necessary because the HSE believed he was five years younger than his actual age, which would have disqualified him from the payment.

The HSE’s national payroll working group is examining the cause of the overpayments, and developing “measures” to ensure incorrect salaries are addressed.

However, audits on the matter have repeatedly warned the State may have to resort to the civil courts to retrieve money relating to the most significant incorrect payments.