More than €1 million was paid in bonuses to Health Service Executive (HSE) staff in 2006 at the same time as a man in Connemara was refused an extra four hours of home help a week to assist him care for his elderly mother, a Dáil committee was told yesterday.
The issue was raised at a meeting of the public accounts committee (PAC) yesterday, where the Fine Gael Galway West TD Padraic McCormack said he was informed in writing by the HSE that the extra home help hours could not be granted because of an embargo on recruitment.
He said the Connemara farmer struggled for two years to mind his mother but eventually he had to put her into a nursing home. The extra home help hours, he claimed, would have cost the HSE just €50 a week compared to the huge amount it was now costing the State to keep her in an institution.
"I'm sick and tired writing to [ HSE chief executive] Prof [ Brendan] Drumm and others about this case and this is the end result," he said.
He added that public representatives then had to listen to "waffle" and "flowery language" from those in the HSE and the Department of Health about innovation in the provision of health services. "In my experience, services are very badly delivered on the ground . . . There is no innovation . . . It's a scandal what's going on, on the ground," he said.
He added that it took nine years to prepare a report on abuse at the Kilcornan Centre in Galway and now there was going to be another report to look into the delay.
"Who does the HSE think it is fooling?" he asked.
The PAC was examining the 2006 accounts for the HSE and the Department of Health.
The committee heard €7.96 million was spent on consultancy services by the HSE that year and the biggest part of this went to Accenture for providing support for the Ppars payroll project, in addition to other services, while €230,000 went to PA Consulting for a bed utilisation report.
The committee also heard €1.24 million was given out in bonuses to HSE staff in 2006. Some 111 HSE employees were eligible for performance-related pay.
Mr McCormack asked did some of the 111, including those at the committee, not feel guilty accepting bonuses when the poor man in Connemara could not get four hours of home help for his mother. Committee chairman Bernard Allen, a Fine Gael TD for Cork North Central, ruled the question was unfair.
Prof Drumm said Mr McCormack obviously felt passionately about a particular case. He said the HSE would look again at the case mentioned by him if he provided details. Mr McCormack said he had already supplied them.
Prof Drumm went on to stress that all independently commissioned studies showed very high satisfaction rates with users of the health services.
Mr Allen interjected: "These studies are meaningless because they are out of touch with reality. Maybe you are depending too much on consultancies."
Meanwhile, Prof Drumm stressed that the Kilcornan Centre report was commissioned long before the HSE came into existence. He claimed it was the HSE that took it over and ensured that it was dealt with.
On the subject of performance-related pay, Prof Drumm said specific criteria had to be met before people got bonuses and not all those who sought such bonuses were approved for them.