Millions still being spent on discredited computer system
Tuesday July 03 2007
UP TO €32.4m of taxpayers' money has been spent on the controversial PPARS health payroll and personnel system since its national roll-out was put on hold two years ago.
A report reviewing the beleaguered system is due to be examined at a board meeting of the Health Service Executive (HSE) this week to decide on its future.
It will recommend the HSE either extend the accident-prone system nationally or limit its use. The national roll out was suspended in 2005 after serious concerns emerged about its accuracy and efficiency.
There was also a furore over the huge sums paid in consultancy fees for work on the project, including a payout of as much as €38.5m to Deloitte and Touche.
Since then it has continued to be used on a limited basis and it is projected its running cost will top €177m by the end of this year.
Approximately €19.6m was spent on the system last year.
The system has continued to be used for the payment of over 30,000 staff in three of the former health boards areas as well as St James's Hospital in Dublin.
The system also provides general human resources information support for over 70,000 staff in the same regions and also for St James's.
The PPARS project was reviewed by outside consultants on five occasions since it began on a pilot basis in the mid 1990s. Comptroller and Auditor General John Purcell, who looked at the history of the project, was severely critical of how it was run and said the reviews tended to justify the continuation of the project.
It was estimated the total cost of the project by mid 2005 of this year was in the region of €131m .
Costs
Of this, €57m went to consultants and contractors, €20 m to project infrastructure, €17m to national administration and €37m on local agency costs.
The Comptroller's report said while a good deal of work needed to be done to improve PPARS it does have achievements which can be built on.
These include having a single system across the whole sector and the creation of expertise within the system which may be available for other developments. Among those who criticised the system was John O'Brien, the former chief executive of St James's Hospital in Dublin.
Mr O' Brien is now the head of the National Hospital's Office.
In 2005 he called for the payroll system not be extended any further within St James's or the health service until the major problems with its operation have been solved.
- Eilish O'Regan
