Healthcare costs - not insurance "Tens of millions in HSE money lost, say auditors"

Getting too caught up in the covid related PPE (presumption that its covid related).

Theres an old supply chain saying, older more seasoned members of that fraternity will know it.

"I'd rather be looking at it than looking for it"

That was the case during covid, I would expect massive obsolescence post expiry of these skus. It was a dog eat dog world during that period.I have zero problem with this.

Any supplier I dealt with needed to bring value to the transaction, that bit extra that will add to my business, there are always lot of ways this can happen....what I would never accecpt is a supplier who inadvertently received a double payment (apparently) refusing to refund it & rolling the dice on how incompetent my business is to correct and retrieve. 700k is a lot of money.

To me they may as well fly the skull & crossbones on their letterhead.

I fully get obsolescence, have written off millions over my career for various reasons but a trusted supplier acting in this fashion is unacceptable.

Watch the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves.Every penny I spent or approved was like I was spending my own money.

There is no argument that will convince me otherwise.
 
Persia said:
Watch the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves.Every penny I spent or approved was like I was spending my own money.
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that could be the source of the problem. They probably have good systems in place to make sure that staff don't rob Tippex and paper for their personal use.

It is much better to mind the pounds. If you make mistakes on the pennies, it won't matter as much.
 
mathepac said:
  • One HSE employee was paid just under €700,000 last year
  • Ten HSE staff were paid in excess of €500,000
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A lot of self-employed consultants earn this level. This should not be reported under "money lost" unless they were paid it for work that they did not do.

Likewise, I have thrown out medicines and covid tests which were beyond their Use By date.

that is a normal part of running a hospital. And during a panic like Covid, it is much more likely to happen.
 
That supplier will return the funds. It's sitting in an unallocated account or was offset against other invoices. Those salary ranges are probably the busiest consultants or the most senior leaders. Just look at the CEO compensation recently published and it is buttons compared to that. I'd be worried if the auditors found nothing tbh in an org of the size and complexity of the HSE. Look at it from the other perspective, of the overall budget, how much was spent appropriately and effectively? Of course money should not be wasted and controls should be water tight.. missed income is very worrying and obviously duplicate payments too and they need to be taken in hand and eliminated.
 
mathepac said:
No it isn't and clearly you haven't read either the newspaper report or the CAAG's so you're not in a position to contradict me. The newspaper report states that PPE "worth about €22 million" and "vaccines to the value of about €11 million were written off because they were out of date". I added the two numbers to summarise.
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Yes and 33 is the larger part of 50 odd you were the one that totted it up not me!
 
misemoi said:
That supplier will return the funds. It's sitting in an unallocated account or was offset against other invoices
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Surely this would have been clarified prior to publishing findings?

If this is the case (I'm not saying it is) then these audit findings aren't worth the (hopefully cheapest) photocopy paper its printed on.
 
If the funds are recoverable with reasonable certainty then there’s nothing to disclose in terms of finance,

But it’s still a matter for the management letter. And I’m not sure what the C&Ag’s report is.
 
The audit report probably only highlights the unusual stuff, the things that appear above the baseline. The real waste is in the baseline and wouldn't appear unusual. If all the above was eliminated, the HSE would still have a massive budget.
Wouldn't be surprised if the double payment was to another state body.
I had a stay in hospital a number of years ago. Two to three years later, VHI were still receiving bills from the HSE.
 
mathepac said:
A "thundering disgrace" as a famous politician once said in the house.
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No he didn't. Former Minister for Defence Paddy Donegan said it in the Officers' Mess in Columb Barracks Mullingar during a function. It's rumoured that he was a bit emotional at the time.
 
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