Thousands of HSE service providers may face payment delays over glitch in new IT system

Payments by the HSE to thousands of its service providers may be affected by a glitch in the HSE’s new multimillion IT system, which was designed to streamline payments.

Payments to providers of home-care help, nursing homes, maintenance operators, hospital food and medical equipment – as well as patients who require reimbursement for treatment – may be affected. The HSE is now asking for suppliers to bear with it as it attempts to “quickly resolve” the payment issues which run into millions of euro.

Management sources say the 30-day payment grace period ends this coming week for the majority of suppliers who may experience delays to payments due to them. The HSE has acknowledged that it knows many suppliers may be facing financial pressure as a result of the IT problem.

The HSE implemented the new €82 million finance system, designed to streamline payments, at the end of June for hospitals in the eastern region (HSE East), Tusla and other HSE corporate services units.

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All other HSE areas outside the east are unaffected, and invoice processing and payments are operating as normal, a HSE spokesperson outlined and said it was “working quickly to minimise any delays”.

“We are working to prioritise invoices from suppliers who may be facing particular pressures. The amount is not yet known as there has been no delay to payment as of yet,” the spokesperson told The Irish Times.

CEO Bernard Gloster is aware of the situation and the “HSE and the Department of Health regularly engage on many matters, including this one”, the spokesperson added.

Despite staff receiving a number of training sessions, many say they still don’t feel comfortable operating the system.

“We are at crisis point as the 30-day pay limit is up next week and millions of euro will be owed. Some suppliers might be able to handle the wait but many won’t, especially companies and contractors we deal with abroad. Also companies and smaller suppliers who may be financially stretched,” sources said. “Why HSE top management did not contact suppliers to make them aware there was a potential problem brewing defies understanding.”

In a response the HSE said that there were “currently some delays in processing around 25,000 supplier invoices to some parts of the HSE”.

Most of these invoices relate to transactions which were initiated in multiple old legacy systems and will now be completed for payment under the new single integrated system, the spokesperson added.

The HSE processes approximately 2.1 million supplier invoices per year for payment. At any given time, a proportion of this overall number of supplier invoices is being processed.

The spokesperson added that at this point “no payments have been delayed and payments have been issuing to suppliers”. However, management sources say that the 30-day payment grace period ends this coming week for the majority of suppliers, who may face a delay in payments due to them.

“We apologise sincerely to any suppliers for whom inconvenience or difficulties are being caused, and are working quickly to minimise any delays. We are working to prioritise invoices from suppliers who may be facing particular pressures,” the spokesperson said.

It is understood that numerous departments within the HSE have “escalated” their concerns.

The Department of Health and a spokesperson for Minister Stephen Donnelly were also contacted for comment by The Irish Times.