Hospital can’t explain €700,000 salary ‘top-up’ for senior staff

A MAJOR hospital that shared out almost €700,000 in salary top-ups among senior staff could not provide any documentary evidence to explain the reasons for the payments.

The findings have emerged in an independent probe into the top-ups paid to senior staff at Tallaght Hospital in Dublin between 2005 and 2010.

The so-called ‘supplementary payroll’ paid out sums ranging from €25,000 to €249,000 over the course of five years, the investigation by accountancy firm Ernst & Young revealed.

The probe was ordered by the hospital’s audit committee in late 2011 but the unexplained payments only came to public light in May last year.

It followed an examination of how the hospital’s emergency department was run amid concerns about patient safety.

The total amount paid out in supplementary sums amounted to €671,916 , according to the report obtained by Irishhealth.com under Freedom of Information legislation. The findings showed: One member of staff was paid entirely from the supplementary payroll rather than the hospital’s main payroll.

Another senior executive received a top-up to boost their pension.

One of the staff got over €1m through a combination of an €802,000 salary and topups of more than €225,000.

The report said the investigators could find “no evidence” in documents for the rationale behind the payroll.

Interviews with members of the board “provided inconsistent recollections as to the existence and approval of the supplementary payroll”.

The additional payroll was administered by consultants Price Waterhouse Coopers and was referred to in correspondence as ‘the executive payroll’ or the ‘PwC payroll'.

A senior member of staff received a non-pensionable €104,667 and this was backed up by letters approved by the hospital chief executive and chairman of the board.

Contract

Another got €61,250 on a non-pensionable basis, while one senior employee received €259,000 and got their full contractual salary through the supplementary payroll.

A spokesman for Tallaght Hospital said the supplementary payroll ended in 2010.

The spokesman said the review was commissioned by the chairman of the Hospital Board’s audit committee in November 2011.

“In December 2011, the new board appointed a new remuneration and terms of committee to oversee all executive management recruitment and compliance with Department of Health-approved salary scales.”

Asked if any member of staff is currently receiving a top-up, he said: “Due to contractual obligations, the hospital cannot comment on specific individual arrangements.”