There have been calls for “full transparency” over healthcare spending after the HSE declined to share the breakdown of costs to implement a pilot programme designed to help cut waiting lists.
The full cost of phasing in the Health Performance Visualisation Platform (HPVP) on a pilot basis amounted to 28 million euro.
The HPVP was introduced by the HSE to address a gap in the “centralised information available to support strategic and operational performance monitoring across acute hospitals”, according to the former minister for health Stephen Donnelly.
The system aims to share real-time health data across emergency departments, outpatient services and other areas.
In a Freedom of Information request, the HSE confirmed that the total cost of implementing HPVP was 28 million euro, which it said includes software, implementation services and other costs.
However, the body refused to provide a breakdown of the costs or names of product providers, citing “commercially sensitive” reasons.
Aontu leader Pear Toibin said that “transparency is key” in the procurement process in Ireland.
“The Health Performance Visualisation Platform is a good idea. The health system in Ireland has long suffered for the lack of centralisation information,” he said.
“One of the reasons the HSE has been so difficult to manage is the opaque nature of its operation.
“But transparency is also key in the procurement process in Ireland. We can see from the National Children’s hospital that the health service has been cursed with runaway costs in capital development.
“The HSE’s refusal to answer questions on the specifics of this cost is a real problem. 28 million euro is a big figure.
“We should be able to see the tender documents.
“We should be able to see the materials and the time being put into the development of the system. We should be able to see the outputs.
“Given the billions of euro of government waste, it is intolerable that details concerning the spending of taxpayers money would be withheld.
Sinn Fein’s spokesman for health, David Cullinane, called for full transparency over the HPVP costs (PA)
“I have issued a parliamentary question to the Minister for Health demanding transparency.”
Sinn Fein’s spokesman for health, David Cullinane, called for full transparency over the costs, saying it is difficult to understands them without a breakdown.
He said failure to disclose the full breakdown of costs is “hiding behind” commercial sensitivity.
“It’s important that there is full transparency in relation to healthcare spending, and that the full costs of providing this service are publicly available,” he added.
“Routinely the HSE sites commercial sensitivity. We’ve seen this with the National Children’s Hospital and other areas where there has been cost over runs. These reasons are given for not giving full costs or breaking down costs.
“We’ve had similar problems before in relation to getting information on agency spend, and it makes it very difficult then to fully understand, if we are getting value for money, and exactly what the overall cost, in this case, the 28 million euros being spent on, for transparency purposes, it is important that full information is given.
“It’s not giving a lot of information outside of the 28 million euro. Even if there were some elements of the breakdown could not be given for commercially sensitive reasons, that should be explained.
“Essentially to not give any I think is lazy and is hiding behind commercial sensitivity, as opposed to providing the information which is needed.
“We see this far too often in the HSE. The minister last year put in place a productivity savings Task Force to save money, to identify where savings could be made, and to give public confidence that where we have huge amounts of money being spent on health care, that the money has been spent for the right purposes, and that every effort has been made to achieve savings and efficiencies.
“It’s very difficult to square that with, routinely journalists, but also us as public representatives and those in opposition, putting in FOIs and PQs and only getting partial information, and very often very little information, in relation to costs.
“From my perspective, I think the breakdown should be given, and if that’s not possible, within the clear reason or a rationale should be given. But it doesn’t make sense to me that just a figure of 28 million is given, but no breakdown at all.”
He added: “I visited some hospitals myself, and I’ve seen the system in play. It is very good in relation to producing data. That’s exactly what you need in hospital.
“In real time, you’re getting data, up to date data, which is obviously really important in any healthcare setting. So the system itself is really good and very effective.”
In a statement, the HSE said: “The total cost of implementation of HPVP is 28 million euro which includes software, implementation services and other costs.
“The HSE is not in a position to provide a breakdown of the names of the service/product providers and individual costs as this information is commercially sensitive.”