Half of hospitals and health agencies breaching pay policy - Reilly

More than half of the country’s voluntary hospitals and health service agencies have said they are not compliant with Government pay policy in relation to the remuneration of their senior executives.

Figures released this evening by the Minister for Health James Reilly said that 24 of the 44 voluntary hospitals and agencies "returned a status of non-compliance and 12 have categorised themselves as compliant".

He said 8 others had yet to indicate their status.

Dr Reilly said that at the end of September the HSE had written to each of the service providers concerned, providing them with the findings of an internal audit report into executive remuneration and copy of a pay policy issued by the Department of Health.

He said the HSE sought confirmation that remuneration arrangements in each of the voluntary hospitals and agencies were in full compliance with this policy.

He said the pay policy made clear that bodies funded under Section 38 of the Health Act 2004 “may not supplement approved rates of remuneration with either Exchequer funding or non-Exchequer sources of funding”.

“Of 44 organisations, 36 have provided the HSE with a reply. In 24 cases the organisation has returned a status of non-compliance and 12 have categorised themselves as compliant. Eight have yet to indicate their status.

“The HSE is in correspondence with the latter group of organisations in order to establish the position in each. In all other cases the HSE will examine in detail the responses received and address any issue arising with the organisations concerned.”

Dr Reilly said:“The HSE’s approach involves a robust process of verification and, as necessary, clarification of the position in each Section 38 organisation. Until such time as the situation in each organisation has been fully verified, none of these organisations can be deemed fully compliant.”

Voluntary hospitals and agencies can make a business case to the HSE to continue paying an unapproved allowance for executives. These business cases will be assessed by the HSE with the involvement of the Department of Health and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, as necessary.

A business case must also be made for the continued payment of allowances which are not encompassed by or in line with the Department of Health official pay scales but which may have been sanctioned in the past.

The Minister said that HSE director general Tony O'Brien, is due to appear before the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee on Wednesday November 27th and that "this would allow for a detailed discussion and expansion on the work being undertaken".

Dr Reilly said:“The Government is determined to ensure that public pay policy is respected and complied with across the health service and to that end I have also asked that the HSE Director General write to all Section 39 agencies to ensure that their remuneration arrangements reflect the Government’s public pay policy. I will be receiving regular updates from the HSE.”

The statement from the Minister did not identify the voluntary hospitals and agencies that had said they are not in compliance with pay policy.