Brennan Report - Department of Health and Children

Report of the Commission on Financial Management and Control Systems in the Health Servicebeen sought to address this issue and the Department does not intend to seek any additionalExchequer funding for this purpose. The Department has, however, due to the resulting cashdifficulty arising from this unauthorised spending, agreed to fund about ¤ 77 million of the abovefigure.Since February 2002, the Department of Health and Children has strengthened controls toensure no recurrence of the matter.Table 2.5: Example of Unauthorised Expenditure in the Health ServiceYear Agency Problem Identified2000/1 Health boards Health board management spent £115 million on capital projects that had notbeen authorised by the Department of Health and Children. [Dept. of Healthand Children, Dept. of Finance]Problem 3: Unauthorised Staff NumbersThe numbers to be employed in the entire health service is determined and authorised by theDepartment of Finance consistent with the Government’s overall employment policy. TheDepartment of Health and Children then authorise employment limits for each of the healthboards/agencies within that total.There is evidence that these ceilings on employment numbershave been breached on occasions in the past. We are also aware that for the years 2001 and2002, the process for controlling numbers in the health boards moved to one that linked postsdirectly to the resources available. For both those years, boards have stayed within theseavailable resources although the overall sanctioned employment limits were exceeded.Table 2.6: Examples of Unauthorised Staffing in the Health ServiceYear Agency Problem Identified1998 Eastern Health Board Eastern Health Board exceeded its authorised staffing levels throughout theyear. (C&AG Annual Report 1998)2000 All health service The annual Census of Health Service Employees, covering the entire healthservice, shows an excess of 500 over the approved employment ceiling.(Dept. of Health and Children, Dept. of Finance)2001 All health service The annual Census of Health Service Employees shows an excess of 3,800over the approved employment ceiling for the entire health service. (Dept. ofHealth and Children, Dept. of Finance)34