The Mid Western Health Board yesterday rejected criticism of it by the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG), Mr John Purcell, who last Thursday accused the board of providing him with unreliable data.
Mr Purcell told the Dáil Public Accounts Committee that the health board, along with others, had furnished unreliable figures in relation to the number of procedures it carried out under the Waiting List Initiative (WLI) in 2000.
He gave this as an explanation for why he had not included in his recent value-for-money report of the WLI details of the number of procedures which were carried out for the money allocated.
He instanced the MWHB, and said when asked how many people it treated under the WLI in 2000, two different figures were given at different times. It said in 2002 that it had treated 991 people, but this month it said it had treated 1,724.
Yesterday, in a statement, the health board said it was "totally mystified" at the suggestion that it gave two different accounts to the C&AG of the numbers of procedures carried out. The board's assistant chief executive, Mr John O'Brien, said the board submitted details to Mr Purcell in April 2002 of the work it carried out in 2000.
"The statements made to the Public Accounts Committee by Mr Purcell are incorrect. His remarks were an unfair reflection on a board which his own earlier report noted had made significant achievements under the initiative.
"We realise that to the general public this may appear to be a case of 'He said/I said' but the record is open for inspection and it will verify our statement."
A spokesman for the C&AG said last night the health board informed it in 2002 that 1,724 procedures had been carried out by it in 2000. But the Department of Health said the figure was 991.