“Significant weaknesses and discrepancies” in the payments covering patients and staff meals at the Gozo General Hospital have been identified by the National Audit Office (NAO).
NAO audit findings were discussed yesterday by Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) with the Auditor General, health ministry officials and the hospital management.
The NAO reported it had encountered several instances where menu counts, purported to be showing the meals handed to patients, were more than the number of patients registered to be in hospital on that same day.
The patients indicated their choices for lunch and dinner on menu cards that were collected and scanned by the contractor’s staff.
Meals were then plated according to the preferences indicated by the patients and the menu selection summary, showing the menu counts and choices for each ward, was printed.
This summary was then endorsed by the officer in charge of the ward, confirming that the number of meals delivered tallied with the menu count.
The card system, meant to count free staff meals, was not introduced following data protection concerns
However, the Auditor General could not confirm the correctness of the delivery notes, on which payment was made, since the menus showing the patients’ actual choice were not available.
Furthermore, it was discovered that that the contractor’s IT system recognised blank menus as a menu count and could even scan the same menu several times.
Other issues were raised by the NAO with regard to the staff meals, to which only staff members with direct contact with patients and on duty for at least 10 hours were entitled.
It transpired that the swipe card system, intended to count staff members having free meals, was not introduced following “data protection concerns” raised by the nurses’ union.
Moreover the contractor was not being notified of the employees entitled to a free meal; all personnel who turned up were offered a free meal.
Comparing the contractor’s data with the hospital’s records, it transpired that 82 employees included in the contractor’s list were not actually entitled to free staff meals.
Instances of lack of verification of invoiced amounts were also encountered. According to one invoice there were 1,397 breakfasts and 1,577 lunches, which were supposedly consumed by staff during one week.
However, the supporting report confirmed that only 290 breakfasts and 325 lunches had been consumed, a discrepancy of 1,107 breakfasts and 1,252 lunches worth €4,947.
The invoice was nonetheless certified correct and paid.
The tender document set out that the contractor was responsible “for all installations necessary” for the proper equipping of premises as well as for supplying catering services.
However, the contractor’s water and electricity expenses were being paid from public funds.
The Auditor General chastised the Health Ministry officials for exercising “significant pressure” over the Director of Contracts to waive the tender requirement to place a performance guarantee of €429,879 and instead accept a pledge of €85,976 only.
Management concurred with most of the observations raised by NAO and reported that measures primarily aimed at introducing checks to enhance internal controls were being implemented.