Health service to shelve faulty payroll system
The Health Service Executive is to temporarily shelve its faulty payroll system tomorrow until it is re-examined, Health Minister Mary revealed tonight.
HAS chiefs gathering for a board meeting in the morning will decide to suspend the roll-out of the controversial P-PARS technology until its viability is assessed.
Opposition TDs have slammed the system which has so far cost €116m, including up to €70m on external consultants.
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern faced more fury on the issue in the Dáil today where he admitted that officials mishandled the issue and that too much was paid to consultants.
Ms Harney said today: “I understand the HSE will decide tomorrow to suspend the roll-out of the P-PARS, and I think that’s very sensible.
“We need a proper evaluation of whether is the appropriate system for the health service.”
She told reporters in Dublin: “If this system is not appropriate, it cannot continue. We have to stop it and admit it was an error.
“If it is appropriate it should be rolled out.”
Ms Harney explained that there were 25,000 different work rosters under the old manual payroll system and people doing similar jobs were sometimes paid different wages and church holidays were often mixed up with bank holidays.
She said the original €10m cost estimate for the P-PARS system in 1999 was totally unrealistic.
The minister is due to speak in the Dáil on the issue tonight.
Ms Harney also expressed concern about the amount of money paid to consultants on a general basis.
Last year alone Deloitte and Touche received €13.5m in consultancy fees for work on P-PARS.
“Consultants should only be used if there is no in-house expertise,” Ms Harney said.
Labour leader Pat Rabbitte earlier described the system in the Dáil as "a monumental cock-up" and claimed that the €70m spent on external consultants since 1998 should be recouped by the Government.
Addressing Mr Ahern, he added: “Why can you grow so far removed from people who get up at 6.30am in the morning to commute long distances to work to pay their taxes and you stand over your Government wasting their money in this fashion?
“This is one of the biggest cock-ups, a monumental cock-up. A Niagara of waste of taxpayers’ money.
“The computer system is not working in the Department of Health and neither is the minister.”
Mr Ahern said that a proper human resources system was needed to run the health service, which now had 140,000 employees.
Acknowledging that consultants may have been ’overused’ he said: “As far as anybody spending or abusing any money anywhere, this Government is entirely opposed to it,” he said.
“What we have done on our watch in Government is to bring public spending from €16bn to €40bn so that resources are there for people to spend correctly.
“Opposition members coming in here as if you don’t need any system to run a staff of 140,000 is just so unhelpful, irresponsible and you should be ashamed of yourselves.”
