Watchdog must get access to finances of 'all hospitals'
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The accounts of all hospitals funded but not owned by the State should be thrown open to the taxpayers' watchdog, An Bord Snip recommends.
Some 29 voluntary hospitals spend up to €1.8bn a year from the public purse.
The Health Service Executive is not allowed to dictate to these hospitals how to manage their budgets, as seen in the recent row over ward closures in Crumlin children's hospital.
But the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) is only allowed to inspect the books of three of the 29 hospitals to see if the taxpayer is getting value for money.
The report by the group headed by economist Colm McCarthy says the C&AG should have the power to inspect and analyse the spending of all these hospitals.
The change would bring major hospitals like Crumlin, the Mater Hospital and Tallaght Hospital, St Vincent's Hospital and the Rotunda Hospital under the C&AG's microscope.
The HSE gives Crumlin €137m per annum and the Mater Hospital receives €238m.
HSE chief executive Prof Brendan Drumm got some information from Crumlin recently on their spending and pointed out that overtime and on-call payments were costing €18m a year. The problem from the Government's perspective is they are not allowed to dictate how budgets are managed. The hospitals manage themselves and are given money from the State to provide services.
But this will change if An Bord Snip's recommendation is implemented and subject the voluntary hospital sector to an enormous degree of scrutiny. The change may need new legislation and would require negotiations with the hospitals.
Beaumont, St James and St Luke's hospitals already come under the C&AG's remit.
Scrutinised
But there are still lots of important hospitals which, at the moment, are not scrutinised by the C&AG in the same manner as normal public hospitals.
Among those on this list are: Central Remedial Clinic; City of Dublin Skin and Cancer Hospital; Coombe Women's Hospital; Dublin Dental Hospital; Mercy University Hospital; National Maternity Hospital; National Rehabilitation Hospital; Our Lady's Hospice Harold's Cross Limited; Royal Hospital Donnybrook; Royal Victoria Eye and Ear Hospital; St Francis Hospice; St Patrick's Hospital/ Marymount Hospice and St Vincent's Hospital, Fairview.
An Bord Snip wants the C&AG to scrutinise the funding of voluntary hospitals with the same microscope as other public hospitals.
- Fionnan Sheahan Political Editor
