Westdoc chief gets five figure top-up on her HSE salary

The Chief Executive Officer of Westdoc – who is employed by the HSE West – has received €80,000 in salary ‘top-up’ payments from the out-of-hours GP service.

And she has received legal opinion advising her that an independent investigation should be carried out into the staff member who leaked the details of her salary top-up to Westdoc members.

The Connacht Tribune understands that since 2009, Siobhán O’Sullivan has received payments of between €15,000 and €25,000 per annum from Westdoc’s GP fund for hiring locums – which is believed to breach the HSE’s ‘One Person, One Salary’ principle as the service is part-funded by the HSE.

There is absolutely no suggestion of any financial impropriety or illegal activity on Ms O’Sullivan’s behalf in relation to Westdoc accounts.

The Westdoc payments are on top of her €80,000 per year (plus expenses) HSE salary, which is funded by the taxpayer.

According to documentation seen by the Connacht Tribune, Ms O’Sullivan, as CEO, has received legal advice that an investigation should be carried out into an alleged data protection breach by the staff member who ‘leaked’ the details of the payments.

We forwarded a series of questions to the HSE. A spokesperson replied that because Westdoc is an independently-managed organisation that is part-funded by the HSE, queries should be directed to Westdoc. Siobhán O’Sullivan refused to comment when contacted.

See full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune.