CITY CONSULTANT SIGN-OFFS HOLD UP HALF A MILLION TO HSE WEST

Date Published: 26-Sep-2012

A city based consultant is one of the worst in the country when it comes to signing off on private health insurance claims.

It emerged at this week’s meeting of the Regional Health Forum West that the consultant has not signed off on claims totalling 496 thousand euro.

As of August 2012, the total amount of outstanding claims from private health insurance companies to UHG/Merlin Park is 15.5 million euro.

That’s made up of 7.7 million sent to insurance companies and 7.8 million not sent.

The main reason for claims not being sent is that consultant signatures are awaited.

This amounts to 5.8 million euro, with one Galway consultant alone being responsible for almost half a million euro.

Councillor Padraig Conneeley, Chairperson of the HSE Regional Health Forum West, says consultants needs to be held accountable.