The Health Service Executive failed to spend €97.7 million that was allocated to it by the Government for new developments and facilities last year, it has emerged, writes Eithne Donnellan, Health Correspondent
The revelation comes in the executive's annual report for 2006 which is due to be published today.
Under Department of Finance rules, only 10 per cent of the unspent money can be carried forward to this year. The remainder has to be handed back.
The chairman of the board of the HSE Liam Downey told The Irish Times there had been a history of underspending capital budgets in the health services.
"It's something that we really want to address, not to spend just for the sake of spending but it is important that we spend the money on the identified infrastructure projects quickly. Its been a criticism as you know of public service generally that delivering projects is a very slow process," he said.
He said the HSE had set up an estates directorate last year in recognition of this to manage and control the capital budget to make sure that the HSE spends prudently the monies that are allocated on the projects that are critical.
"That underspend is something we need to address to make sure that we implement projects quickly, effectively and spend the money that we're allocated," he said.
The annual report states the underspend was "partially due" to the lack of progress on major projects such as developments at Dublin's Mater hospital and the national rehabilitation project.
When it was put to Mr Downey that people around the State waiting for developments in their own areas would be amazed to think the HSE had money that went unspent he accepted this may be the case but said the underspending was not deliberate.
"It's not a question I think that there's a deliberate underspending. I think what happens is just that historically the system didn't deliver projects as quickly and so it's just a natural fall-out of that and that's why we've put this estates management team in place to address that," he said.
On the unspent money which had to be returned to the exchequer, he said: "I don't think we can get it back without special approval for it".
The capital budget sanctioned by the Department of Health for the HSE in 2006 was €555.5 million and the executive's total capital expenditure for the year amounted to €457.8 million. The money spent went on a range of projects from BreastCheck to major hospital developments such as the Cork University Maternity Hospital.
Meanwhile an audit of the HSE's accounts for 2006 by the Comptroller and Auditor General John Purcell, included in the annual report, notes the Minister for Finance sanctioned €58.4 million for the HSE to spend on certain non-capital information and communications technology (ICT) requirements last year. However, the HSE estimated it had actually spent "at least €63 million" under this heading. Mr Purcell said he was unable to ascertain from the way the accounts were configured how much had actually been spent.
"The HSE's accounting systems, which it inherited from its predecessor bodies, are not configured to produce information on non-capital ICT expenditure in a way that makes the total amount involved readily ascertainable. Therefore I was unable to be satisfied that further non-capital ICT expenditure in excess of the amount sanctioned has not been incurred," he wrote.
Mr Downey said this was not a cause for great concern. "It's to do with the accounting system and its ability to actually show that level of detail," he said.
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