Mr. Tom Byrne:

We all look to everything to be a panacea for all problems. Something that is often missed in discussion of the accounts of the HSE is that we receive a clean audit annually. It was part of my comment, and the Comptroller and Auditor General has commented, that the accounts systems are not fit for purpose. I would say that refers to the purpose for which they are intended in the future. We have a disparate system, formerly four health boards, a number of systems, applications and products, SAP, systems across the country and we do not have a common chart of accounts. It will not be an easy task to develop the new financial model as I know coming from a base of some experience in this area. It will start with very simple facts, a common chart of accounts and rolling out an integrated system of finance across the health service. We do not know the costs involved at this stage. The initial tender has gone out. PA Consulting has been appointed to carry out the work on delivering the business case which we would hope to have ready in quarter one for issue to tender for support and delivery of this system.

I come to this with some past experience. It is not an easy task but it is absolutely essential for the health service. It will start with the simple fact of systemising the accounts and bringing them all to one truth, as we like to say. It is a difficult move because there are approximately 15 different systems across the country. In response to your comment about administration staff, it is important as well to take into consideration the back office issues, 60% of my finance team produce information and that should be down at 20% or 30%. That is necessary because with the systems we have we report in different formats, by region, care group etc. The process has started. We are working with PA Consulting to develop the business case to go to tender for delivery of this.