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Irish Independent

Three companies paid €71m to reduce hospital waiting lists – one of which received more than €54m, HSE figures reveal

One of the companies was paid in the region €54.6m, according to the figures provided to the Oireachtas health committee. The other two were each paid €10m and over €5m. The figures supplied to the committee come after HSE chief Bernard Gloster said earlier this week it was planned to phase out of the use of these companies over the next year. They are hired by hospitals and the wider health service to help reduce waiting list backlogs. He told the health committee that a trawl carried out by the HSE covering 27 months found around €100m in total was paid out to these companies during that time employing the external companies to carry out waiting list work using public facilities in the evenings and weekends. The HSE review – which followed recent controversies – also shows that 83 directors of these companies are current or previous employees of the HSE. Some 23 are current employees – working in the HSE while also serving as directors of companies hired by hospitals to reduce backlogs of waiting list patients. He told the committee earlier this week he planned to phase out this form of insourcing in public hospitals by the end of June this year and it was not possible to do it immediately. These companies have grown in 'level and scale. We took our eye off the ball. We need to unwind it,' he told the committee. He add that the 'only way to change it is to stop it.' The winding down must be done 'sensibly', he added. He pointed out there is nothing unlawful about being a company director and there are obligations under the Standards in Public Office or employment contract terms. The review had found an over-reliance on these external companies – several of which had links to hospitals. He said the plan is to introduce more safeguards around them and he is to work with Health Minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill on strengthening these. The review examined 148 companies which had 365 directors in total and found 93 matches with current or previous HSE employees. The implications for removing these companies from carrying out the work is that there is potential for having to use more private hospitals to treat public patients. The aim is to increase productivity through routine work.