Beaumont Hospital paid €1.5 million to a company in which 20 of its staff were directors.
The hospital’s annual financial statement for 2024 reveals the hospital paid one private provider, located on its campus, the sum for the provision of radiology services on an outsourced and insourced basis.
It says there were two contracts in place with the vendor. In relation to one, there was a derogation applied regarding tendering because of the need to deal locally with patient requirements. It says the second, related to ultrasound and mammography, was entered into without a competitive process in 2024, but when this was realised the hospital moved to address these non-compliant procurement issues.
The financial statement says 20 directors of the private provider, who were also employees of the hospital, had been notified by Beaumont of their obligations to report conflicts of interest under ethics rules for the year. It says 16 employees responded “and four reported they were directors of the on-site private provider”.
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The report, published by the Oireachtas on Wednesday, also discloses that the hospital experienced a fraud which cost almost €40,000.
Comptroller and Auditor General Seamus McCarthy, in a note in the report, maintained the incident involved a supplier payment redirection fraud which resulted in a loss of €39,600. The report says in May last year the hospital was “the victim of a successful phishing scam, perpetrated through fraudulent email addresses and invoices”. It says there was also an unsuccessful second attempt made.
The comptroller also said weaknesses in budgeting and delays had resulted in significant overspending on some capital projects.
The report says there was an overrun of more than €2 million on a new payroll and human resources system, for which Beaumont signed a contract in 2022.
The initial projected cost was €1,964,925, but by the end of 2024 this had increased to €4,775,186, offset by non-renewal of legacy system licence costs of €570,862. This left an overrun of €2,239,396.
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The report found “the overspend has occurred due to an underestimation of the project complexities and the initial estimated cost of implementation, compounded by staff turnover in key specialist positions and national industrial relations impediments, with ongoing support required from the vendor”.
The report also maintains that at the end of 2024 more than €700,000 was outstanding, arising from payroll overpayments.
In addition, the report shows Beaumont experienced a deficit of €1.037 million in relation to the development of new hybrid theatres.
It reveals Beaumont essentially wrote off €413,000 in claims submitted to private insurers as “uncollectable because they had not been finalised with the insurers within the required time frame”.
The report says Beaumont “continues to face capacity constraints, particularly in emergency care, critical care, cardiology, oncology, operating theatres, and diagnostics”.
“The shortage of single rooms remains a barrier to infection control, and ongoing fire safety compliance works require sustained investment.”
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Beaumont had sought funding from the HSE as a priority for expanding the emergency department, increasing theatre capacity and upgrading its IT system, the report says.
“Workforce sustainability remains a high-risk area, driven by cost-of-living challenges in Dublin, national shortages of specialist medical staff and increasing burnout rates,” it states.
In a statement, Beaumont said it was committed to the highest standards of financial management, governance and procurement oversight.
“We take the stewardship of public funds extremely seriously and maintain robust controls, clear accountability and full transparency at all times. Where issues arise, we seek to address immediately, and we also conduct a comprehensive review to identify and implement any necessary actions.”
