THE Health Service Executive (HSE) is planning to spend almost €78m on its replacement for the failed Ppars computer system, according to confidential figures seen by the Sunday
Tribune.

The figures indicate the system's running costs will be €6m per year, 60% of the amount necessary to introduce the axed cervical cancer vaccination programme for schoolgirls.

Health minister Mary Harney suspended the programme, which would substantially reduce the number of woman at risk of cervical cancer, earlier this month on cost grounds.

The Sunday Tribune understands that the Department of Health has agreed to meet the costs of the HSE's new system in principle. However, it has asked the HSE to devise new proposals prolonging its roll-out in order to reduce its annual capital budget.

The department refused to answer questions about why the computer system had been prioritised when the cancer vaccine programme had been cancelled.

Fine Gael's spokesman on health, Dr James Reilly, described the plan as shocking in light of recent cutbacks.

"I'd be very slow to embark on any adventure in ICT at a time that we are so financially constrained that we apparently can't afford life-saving vaccines for young girls," he said.

Reilly said the HSE needed a new financial computer system but, under the current economic circumstances, medical services should take priority.

He also said the Ppars affair indicated that an independent agency, not the HSE, should procure the new system when the country could afford to do so.

"Nobody was held accountable for the overspending on Ppars and nobody resigned as a result of it," he said.

More than three years after the installation of Ppars was suspended, the precise costs of the project have yet to be revealed. While the system was meant to cost €9m, it is believed that its budget ballooned to around €170m.

The new system will be based on similar technology to Ppars and will handle pay, training records, rostering and pensions as well as other human resources tasks. Ppars, however, will continue to be used in locations where it was installed.

A HSE spokeswoman said the new system would result in savings of more than €100m when it was fully implemented. But she declined to reveal the installation costs.

"There is no decision to proceed with an implementation of this scale and there is no cost of €78m identified," she said.

However, the department of health said in a statement that the HSE was "considering how best to progress its HR systems solutions in order to meet its future requirements and [the department] expects in course to receive the HSE's proposals".