A new integrated payroll and human resources system at Beaumont Hospital will cost close to €3 million more than originally projected while the project was never put out to tender, the Dáil Public Accounts Committee has heard.
The committee was told on Thursday that initially it had been estimated that the new system would cost €1.9 million.
However the final bill for the payroll/HR system will now be €4.8 million.
The committee heard that previous management at the hospital had decided that a derogation applied that meant the project did not need to be put out to tender. Current management at the north Dublin hospital determined more recently that this approach had been incorrect.
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Committee chairman John Brady of Sinn Féin described the information about the IT system as “a bombshell”. He criticised hospital management for not alerting the Public Accounts Committee in advance about the issue before a scheduled hearing on Thursday.
Details of the overspending on the project emerged in light of a question tabled by Eoghan Kenny of the Labour Party, who had received a tip-off about the issue.
Speaking following the hearing, Mr Kenny said it was “disgraceful” that senior figures from the hospital had had to be asked about this process, rather than providing the information relating to the overspend in their submissions to the committee.
“This matter would have been swept under the carpet had staff members in the hospital not made me aware of this massive overspend of taxpayers’ money.
“No reference was made to this overspend in the documentation provided to the Public Accounts Committee in advance of today’s hearing.”
The director of finance at the hospital, Francis Hanlon, said when he joined the hospital five months ago there was a derogation in place in relation to the IT project – which meant it did not have to go out to tender. He said he had reviewed this issue and did not believe that a derogation was applicable in this case. He said he had raised the issue internally with hospital management.
Mr Hanlon said there had been “a significant overrun in cost”.
Mr Brady said the revelations were extraordinary and it followed on from a litany of waste on other IT projects.
Anne Coyle, the hospital’s chief executive, said after Mr Hanlon had raised the issue, a review had been held into the understanding about that project that was in place at the time. She said the hospital’s statement of internal control had been updated to reflect the revised opinion on the procurement of the integrated HR and payroll system.
[ Beaumont billed NTPF for patients seen in routine clinics, doctors claimOpens in new window ]
David Sweeney, the hospital’s director of human resources and deputy chief executive, said in 2019 it had identified the need for an integrated HR and payroll system and had approached the HSE about taking part in a national system. He said unfortunately at that time the HSE project team was otherwise occupied in putting in place the national system in the organisation’s own facilities.
He said during Covid the hospital realised that its previous system had reached the end of its life and the UK company that provided it had indicated it would no longer support it.
“We felt at that time as a senior management team, and taking into account the impact of recruitment and payroll-related activities for a hospital which undertakes hundreds of thousands of transactions each year, that the circumstances warranted a derogation.”
Mr Sweeney said the system the hospital opted for was aligned to the one operated nationally.
Asked by Mr Kenny as to how there had been a €2.8 million cost overrun, Mr Hanlon said he had not employed by the hospital at the time but he understood that “the complexity of the project had been underestimated”.
The committee also heard that about 25 per cent of consultants at the hospital had not submitted their declarations under ethics legislation in relation to any interests that could influence their duties. Mr Sweeney suggested that in some cases, doctors working across a number of locations could have submitted forms to other hospitals.
