PPARs

1
PPARs

• Payroll, Payment and Related Systems

2
Background

• Dates back to the mid-1990s, when the chief
  executives of a number of health boards decided
  to work together to develop a common computerised
  payroll system.
• The simple idea was to combine resources and save
  money and in 1998, a pilot project involving five
  health boards and St James's Hospital began.
• System was expected to deliver cost savings of
  80m per year
• System has only partially been rolled out
• still only covers 40,000 out of 140,000 staff.

3
Hay Management Consultants Report (2002)

• They found that the job was much more complicated
  than first envisaged and that payment rates and
  terms and conditions of various staff varied
  widely between health boards.
• It recommended, however, that the project should
  proceed, but that if it was to be rolled out to
  all health boards and hospitals, it would cost an
  additional 90 million on top of the 17 million
  spent to date.
• The money, it was claimed, would provide much
  more than a computer payroll system. It would be
  an entire system to manage the work and payment
  of more than 100,000 staff in the health
  services. It would also provide details of
  exactly how many people were employed in the
  health services, how much they were paid, and
  what their terms and conditions were.

4
System Problems

• Overpayments to health service staff have
  multiplied since the partial introduction of the
  new payroll system
• Overpayments to staff now total several million
  euro
• Efforts to recoup the money from staff have been
  unsuccessful in some instances.
• one employee in the northwest had been paid
  1million in error by the system.

5
Political Issue

• Cost of the system was originally estimated at
  less than 9 million
• To date system has already cost 116 million
• the consultants on the project, Deloitte, which
  has been paid 13.5 million in 2005 alone.
• Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny said "150 million
  blown on PPARs could have delivered a brand new
  600-bed hospital".
• There was also "no evidence" presented to them
  that the system, would reduce costs or provide
  increased efficiency