Charity bought gifts and alcohol from public and charitable funding report finds

A leading mental health charity bought gifts, alcohol, flowers, staff celebratory meals and vouchers from public and charitable funding, according to a report by Health Service Executive auditors.

The charity, Shine, attributed staff life assurance and pensions costs against HSE funding, and formal recruitment processes were not undertaken for all vacant positions, the report states.

There was no documentary evidence to support board approval for spending of over €37,000 on the charity’s 40th anniversary celebration, while the former chief executive’s toll costs for travel to and from work were not treated in line with Revenue requirements.

Auditors found there was an absence of documentation to support salary increases paid to some employees, including the former chief executive. They also reported “multiple incidents” of no receipts being provided to claim for tolls, parking, food, drinks, transport and office stationery.

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The charity told auditors it understood pension costs to be “germane” to its activities and said it accepted the needs for business plans for events “going forward”.

Shine, the Schizophrenia Association of Ireland, received €2 million in funding from the HSE in 2019 and had other income of just over €100,000.

A separate audit of EmpowermentPlus, which works with at-risk children and is funded by Tusla, found it made charitable contributions to another charity founded and chaired by its chief executive, and this was not disclosed in the annual financial statements.

A former board member, who went off the board in 2009, had access to the charity’s bank accounts until 2021, when the issue was identified by an internal audit.

The chief executive was the only authorised signatory on the organisation’s chequebook and signed three cheques for his own business-related travel expenses.

There was no evidence he had a signed contract of employment and his remuneration appeared to exceed the appropriate pubic service band, the auditors found.

The charity also paid the mobile phone bills for three volunteers since 2011. The auditors say one of these volunteers attended two one-day events in 2019, and none attended events in 2020 or 2021.

Meanwhile, the master for Holy Ghost Hospital in Waterford was in receipt of payments in contravention of the organisation's governing scheme, another audit report found.

Since 2012, the master has been paid €500 a month by the hospital, originally through the payroll and from 2019 on receipt of a monthly invoice.

HSE auditors argued that the position of master was similar to the chair of a board and because the hospital is a charity, the master was a trustee, giving rise to a potential conflict of interest.

Shortcomings

The hospital told auditors the former master stepped down in September 2021 and the board resolved to discontinue any payments to trustees.

Another HSE audit highlights shortcomings in Tusla’s oversight of third-party providers it funds.

No examination of service providers’ vouched expenses was carried out by Tusla for 2019, according to the audit which examined the records of a cross-section of providers in the Dublin Mid-Leinster area for that year.

Fifty per cent of the audit sample did not have a financial review in 2019, auditors found. Three organisations who were paying staff more than €60,000 a year but Tusla had not validated this information as required.

Audit officials also found 20 per cent of tax clearance certificates were not provided, along with a lack of information about review meetings and activities in the funded organisations.

Some staff involved in oversight and monitoring of service arrangements were unsure who was responsible for uploading information on to an online portal for storing such information.

In 2019, Tusla paid grants totalling €123 million to third-party providers of services.

The risk to patients from under-employment of anaesthetists in a number of smaller hospitals is also noted in a series of reports by auditors. Mullingar hospital, for instance, employs one consultant for every two non-consultant hospital doctors for anaesthesia/critical care, instead of the recommended “two plus two” model. The hospital had 13 approved NCHD posts but only seven were filled.

The risk of patient harm, and of cancelled elective lists and delayed patient treatment due to staffing arrangements, are listed on the hospital’s risk register.