The Beaumont Hospital Board wrote off €194,654 in overpayments to 20 staff members last year, relating to payments made between 2015 and 2021 that were considered unrecoverable, reports Breaking News.
This write-off was disclosed by board chairperson Pauline Philip, who also revealed that by the end of 2024, identified staff overpayments due for recovery totalled €704,000, reports Breaking News.
In the board’s 2024 annual financial statement, Philip also noted that private health insurance claims worth €413,347 were deemed unrecoverable during the year, representing 1.8% of private patient income for 2024.
She further disclosed that in May 2025, the Dublin hospital fell victim to a phishing scam involving fraudulent emails and invoices, resulting in a loss of €39,624, reports Breaking News.
Philip said a second attempted scam was detected before any loss occurred.
She added that the hospital responded by freezing the vendor account, contacting its bank and An Garda Síochána, and implementing on-site fraud awareness sessions along with internal cyber training and phishing tests, reports Breaking News.
The financial statements also show that 55 employees earned more than €300,000 in 2024, a sharp rise from 11 in 2023.
Two staff members received over €400,000 in 2024, including one whose earnings ranged between €420,000 and €429,000, while overall staffing costs reached €391 million as employee numbers rose to 4,546, reports Breaking News.
Operating costs at Beaumont Hospital increased by 13%, rising from €659.4 million to €745.9 million in 2024.
The accounts also reveal that the board paid €585,000 as part of a legal settlement during the year, reports Breaking News.
Additionally, the statements show that €1.5 million was spent on radiology services, with one contract awarded without a competitive tender process to a company in which 20 staff members were listed as directors.
This payment and contract award were highlighted by Comptroller and Auditor General Seamus McCarthy in his report accompanying the 2024 financial statements, which detailed the arrangement, reports Breaking News.
In his findings, McCarthy stated that the €1.5 million payment was made in 2024 and that a contract had been directly awarded to the company without competitive procurement.
He noted that the hospital confirmed 20 staff members were directors of the supplier firm and had been informed of their obligation to submit statements of interest for 2024, reports Breaking News.
McCarthy stated that “it discloses that 16 of the staff holding directorships had submitted statements of interest for 2024 and that only four of these had made disclosures regarding the company”.
Under the section titled ‘Conflict of interest and procurement of contracts’, chairperson Pauline Philip referred to the €1.5 million payment.
Philip said the €1.5 million was paid to the company under both outsourced and insourced arrangements, adding that “these patient treatment models are valid access initiatives which have come under scrutiny at national level due to perceived or real conflict of interest risk”, reports Breaking News.
She also stated that two contracts exist with the provider, one of which expired in January 2024, for which the hospital sought a derogation based on clinical necessity to meet local patient needs, reports Breaking News.
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