Vol. 457 No. 8
98 Ms O'Donnell asked the Minister for Health the amount of money which is being held on account by health boards on behalf of patients in each of the health board areas; if a common policy has been agreed between the health boards on the holding of patients' private money; if he has satisfied himself that complete transparency exists in the holding of this money in each health board region; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16500/95]
Limerick East): I presume the Deputy is referring to the amount of money, referred to as patients' private property, which is being held in safekeeping by health boards on behalf of long-stay psychiatric and elderly patients.
The amount of money, the combined principal plus interest accrued, held on behalf of these patients by the eight health boards at 30 June, 1995 is approximately £16.5 million.
An accounting standard was prescribed by my Department in 1994 governing the presentation of health boards' annual financial statements. This standard imposes an obligation on each health board to clarify, in its annual financial statement, that patients' private property is not the property of the health board and to set out the legal basis on which it is administered by the board. It must also state whether patients' private property accounts have been independently audited, give the date of the last audit and a copy of the auditor's report must be appended to the statement. The accounts are available for inspection by the Comptroller and Auditor General in the course of his annual audit of health board accounts thereby ensuring transparency in the accounting procedures applying to these moneys.
