Áine Collins (Cork North West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome Mr. O'Brien and his colleagues and thank them for staying with us this morning. The area I wish to speak of is the internal financial control system, and we have been talking about that for many years at this stage. Representatives of the Department of Health were here two weeks ago and I was informed that it will take at least another five years. I also asked about skill sets in the Department. I was told there are four accountants, three data analysts and two statisticians. The previous question related to collecting money and managing data, which seems to be a big problem, but where are we in getting an integrated system that is robust and can share information? We have spoken about consultants signing off forms but could this be done online or in a process that integrates technology to make it easier for users? My colleagues may not be very complimentary to some of our consultants but we need them and there is a shortage. Would it not be a better approach to make it easier for them to do their job? I agree with the Chairman that perhaps we need to outsource the existing backlog and get it cleared up as soon as possible. I am sure there are some very good accountancy firms around the country that would be more than happy to help. There are also companies looking after outsourced data management.

What percentage of the €13.5 billion budget is going to innovation and putting in place new processes to help doctors and nurses on the ground? I am a regular user of the health service who goes in every month and I still see a very large brown file with all the information in it that nobody could read in one sitting. There are many mistakes in it and I am asked the same questions by four different people. This is so far away from conversations about lean management, processes and technology. This is probably one of the most fundamental issues in the system but I am not a clinician, so I cannot speak about it from that perspective. I comment from the perspective of managing processes, building the capabilities of a team and enabling people to give accurate information on time. I presume that would help with decision-making processes in how we can go further and ensuring that the Health Service Executive corporate plan can be implemented by its 2017 target. I cannot see that happening without technology supporting all the services provided by the HSE.