HSE spending on management consultants compared to 'runaway train'

HSE CEO Bernard Gloster has ordered his finance team to slash its spending on private management consultants by up to €40m. Picture: Sasko Lazarov / Photocall Ireland

HSE spending on management consultancy has more than doubled from €48m to nearly €100m in two years, with the payments described as a “runaway train”.

The surge in spending has resulted in calls for new procedures to be put in place such as the requirements for cost-benefit analyses, and the need for business cases to be presented beforehand, to check whether in-house staff can carry out the work.