Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Thursday, 25 April 2013
Public Accounts Committee
2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 40 - Health Service Executive
Health Service Executive Financial Statements 2011
11:50 am
Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source
So if one works back, there are another 50 days on top of that within the internal workings of the hospital. My point is that taxpayers' money is left unclaimed. The HSE works on a cash basis - a Vote basis. It strikes me that there is a fundamental, inherent problem in the billing system. With the consultant issue, some of the days are out of sync. The HSE is looking to reduce the days for its own preparation by half, from 44 days to 21 days, to prepare the documentation for the consultant. It is also looking to reduce the days for the consultant from 44 days to 30 days. This strikes me as extremely ambitious.