HSE paid private investigators €117,000 to monitor consultants

The Health Service Executive spent €117,853 hiring private investigators to monitor if medical consultants were fulfilling their contracted hours in the public system.

The figures were obtained by the Medical Independent following a Freedom of Information request to the Department of Health.

The department said the decision to hire private investigators to monitor the amount of time consultants spent working in the public and private sector was made by the HSE and its solicitors.

They were hired to gather evidence for a High Court case between consultants and the HSE, over an alleged breach of the consultants contract in terms of salary increases during the financial crisis.

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The consultants took legal action after a decision by the then minister for health, Mary Harney, in April 2009 not to pay the final phase of increases provided for under the terms of the 2008 medical consultants' contract.

Settlement

The case was settled by the State in June. The settlement comprised €182 million in back pay, and ongoing costs of €62 million a year from next January, with arrears to be paid from June onwards.

The HSE confirmed the amount paid for private investigators in the case, but a spokeswoman said the health service would not be providing a breakdown on the spending, or say how long the investigators were used for.

The private investigators were hired to monitor individual doctors’ hours, amid concern that some consultants were not fulfilling their contracted hours in the public system and were instead treating private patients.