Mater hospital makes top-up payments to two executives

THE MATER hospital in Dublin has said two of its senior executives are receiving additional payments on top of their official State-funded salaries.

The hospital said last night chief executive Brian Conlan was paid an additional sum of €25,625 per year which was related to executive oversight for the development of the new €284 million facility at the Mater hospital.

The hospital said this payment was due to be reviewed at the end of the year.

The Mater said the director of non-clinical services at the hospital was paid €20,608 per year in respect of oversight of various developments on the campus, including the new hospital facility.

The Mater is the latest hospital to acknowledge additional earnings of senior management.

The Dáil Committee of Public Accounts intends to carry out an inquiry into such additional payments around the State

This week The Irish Times reported that one member of senior management at St James’s Hospital was paid an allowance of €10,800 for acting as secretary to its board in addition to his salary.

The hospital said the same manager also received €30,000 as a part-time lecturer at Trinity College Dublin.

St James’s also said another senior executive got €35,000 as a part-time lecturer at TCD.

The hospital said the funding for lecturing came from the payroll of TCD, and the positions were not held “ex officio”.

Until earlier this year, the official position of the Health Service Executive and the Department of Health was that senior executives of State-run and voluntary hospitals got a maximum of €145,959 a year. However, The Irish Times reported last March that three executives at St Vincent’s Healthcare Group were paid additional money for private work on top of their public commitments.

Last week the Health Information and Quality Authority, in a report on Tallaght hospital, highlighted sizeable top-up payments made to managers there, including an additional payment of €150,000 in one case.

The Mater also said in a statement last night that the hospital’s clinical director received an additional allowance of €46,000 “in respect of that administrative role”. This is in line with official Department of Health rules.

The hospital also said 15 consultants who undertook administrative roles “as part of the long-standing national clinicians in management initiative were paid the approved fee of €15,040 per annum”.

It also said no performance-related bonuses had been paid to any member of staff at the Mater hospital since 2008.

Chairman of the Committee of Public Accounts John McGuinness said earlier this week it would seek details of the service contracts between the State and voluntary hospitals when the HSE is called before it shortly.