Almost half the money allocated to health boards to reduce hospital waiting lists under a special initiative in 2002 was spent on employing staff, according to a report from the Comptroller & Auditor General published yesterday.Almost half the money allocated to health boards to reduce hospital waiting lists under a special initiative in 2002 was spent on employing staff, according to a report from the Comptroller & Auditor General published yesterday.
An examination of spending on the Waiting List Initiative (WLI) over a five-year period from 1998 to 2002 by Mr John Purcell found that, while the money was supposed to be ring-fenced for patients waiting longest in a number of target specialities, it had become part of core hospital funding.
During the period, some €172 million was allocated to the initiative, half of which went to the eastern region.
The WLI was set up to reduce the number of adults waiting more than 12 months and children more than six months for treatment. But when the Department wrote to health boards with details of their funding, it told them only not to exceed these waiting times, the report found.
It also found there was no relationship between the amounts of money given to hospitals and the length of their waiting lists. The number of long-waiting patients in St James's Hospital in Dublin at the end of 2001 was only 1 per cent of the national target group but it got 13.5 per cent of WLI funding in 2002. The Mater Hospital, which had the biggest target group, saw its share of the funding fall to 9.5 per cent.
The report added that, while the percentage of patients waiting longer than the target periods fell by 39 per cent in the five years to 2002, it was not possible to ascertain if the additional money went on those waiting longest. There was a lack of "clear traceability" on where the money went.
It also said "the layered decision-making process that exists in the health service" presented a challenge when efforts were being made to ensure the money went where it was intended.
In response, the Minister for Health, Mr Martin, announced that the National Treatment Purchase Fund, which has been very successful in validating waiting lists, will take over the management and funding of waiting lists.