Financial software at HSE in need of overhaul: Reilly

Financial control systems in the HSE are clearly in need of overhaul, Health Minister James Reilly said yesterday.

“I was astonished to hear that last year we had 1,700 different software systems operating throughout the health service, many of which are not connected to each other,” he said.

He believed that the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform would give the HSE’s business case for funding to develop a new financial system serious consideration.

The minister also said he had full confidence in the leadership of the health service.

Two weeks ago, the chair of the Public Accounts Committee, John McGuinness, accused the HSE of being unfit for purpose because of the HSE’s mishandling of the discretionary medical card issue.

Mr McGuinness called on the secretary general of the Department of Health, Dr Ambrose McLoughlin, and the director general of the HSE, Tony O’Brien, to resign.

The minister, who was speaking following the inaugural meeting of the Healthy Ireland Council in Dublin Castle yesterday, said he felt that the way the two gentlemen were treated was utterly inappropriate.

“They are public servants and I would put on the record here that the leadership of the health service has my full confidence, including the secretary general.”

He also insisted that patient safety would not be compromised by a budget overrun in the health service.

“We made it very clear in the HSE Service Plan that patient safety was the overriding priority; it remains the overriding priority and, whatever happens, patient safety will not be compromised,” he said.

Dr Reilly’s comments came in the wake of publicity about an internal consultants’ report that was highly critical of the HSE’s accounting system.

This said the manner in which the organisation had implemented its cost cutting programme lacked focus and risked patient safety.

The report, prepared for the Department of Health by PA Consulting, presented a dim view of the financial management arrangements in the HSE.

It said:

- There was limited evidence of effective control of income or costs which could be used to predict its spending;

- The oversight of HSE spending by the departments of health and public expenditure was not supported by financial management;

- The budgetary process is flawed and fails to reflect realistic targets;

- Governance lacks clarity;

- Limited financial management exists among staff.

The report said it had assessed the cost containment plans introduced by the HSE in 2012 and these resulted in “short-term measures which do not consider the whole health system, and may have unforeseen consequences as a result”.

It said because of these non-targeted reductions “there are inherent risks to patient safety, the quality of patient care, and operational administrative efficiency”.

The consultants said their report followed on from the Ogden report and was one of a series of documents that highlighted weaknesses in financial management in the HSE.