THE CONSULTANTS who drew up the plan for the closure of 24-hour AE services at Ennis and Nenagh general hospitals were paid €350,000 for their work in the midwest.
In response to a Freedom of Information request, the Health Service Executive (HSE) has stated that it paid Horwath Consulting Ireland and Teamwork Management Services €349,811 for their work.
The HSE also confirmed that no bonuses had been paid to any HSE medical or administrative staff for the implementation of the report’s findings.
According to a statement from the HSE: “The service level agreement between the HSE and the consultants provided for payment of €276,606 for this work.
“Further work on the integration of acute hospital services with the wider healthcare system was commissioned before completion of the report at an additional cost of €73,205.”
A late draft of the Teamwork report referred to €370 million in capital investment being required in the region’s hospitals. This reference was deleted from the published version. Instead there are references to a reallocation of existing resources being required.
It emerged in June that the same company was paid about €280,000 for a report on the reconfiguration of acute services in Cork and Kerry.
The 24-hour AE services were withdrawn from Ennis and Nenagh general hospitals in April to be centralised in Limerick’s Midwest Regional Hospital and the phased withdrawal of acute surgical services commenced at Ennis and Nenagh last month.
In response, Green Party member of the HSE West Regional Forum, Cllr Brian Meaney said yesterday: “The money paid to Teamwork represents very poor value for money as the only parts of Teamwork that have been implemented in the midwest are the parts that have not involved costing the HSE money.”
Mr Meaney said: “The taxpayers and people of Clare deserved better than this.”
He also complained that in his role as a member of the HSE regional forum, he was denied access to how much Teamwork was paid for the work on the midwest as it was deemed commercially sensitive. The Teamwork report formed the basis of an eight-page HSE implementation plan that resulted in the overhaul of services in the midwest.
The HSE plan stated that it was difficult to justify 24-hour AE services at Ennis and Nenagh hospitals in terms of value for money, longer-term sustainability and governance. The document said the dependency on locums at both hospitals, as well as the obvious expense, was hard to justify, particularly given the small number of emergency services which were provided.
