An HSE audit has raised concerns about anomalies in claims and payments for GPs working for HSE addiction services in the Dublin area.

The report of a probe last year by the HSE's audit division reports discrepancies in the payment of claimed fees, travel and subsistence expenses and overtime to some GPs and other staff working for the HSE's Dublin Mid-Leinster Addiction Services.

In one case, the audit report says, a GP and other staff were claiming for attendance at a particular Dublin clinic that had been closed down two years previously

GPs specialising in substance abuse were paid €71.50 an hour for providing addiction services in 2012, according to the audit report completed last year.

The payments to GPs are made through the doctors submitting claims for the number of hours they work and necessary expenses and allowances associated with this work.

The probe of claims and payments made in 2012 reveals flaws in the claims process and an apparent failure by the HSE to verify properly some claims.

The report includes an audit sample of the claims made by six GPs working for the Dublin Mid-Leinster Addiction service.
It found, among other things:
• All the claim forms submitted by one GP for the year 2012 were dated a week in advance of hours worked.
• The audit also reported incidences where the same GP put in for travel expenses for attendance at a particular clinic when no claims were made by this doctor for payment for work in this clinic on the days concerned, and in one expenses claim, duplicate payments were made.
• Another GP claimed travelling expenses for performing clinical duties when the doctor concerned was on study leave at the time.
• The audit reported that the same GP claimed for payment for services which indicated nine hours work one particular day at a south Dublin clinic, while also claiming travel /subsistence expenses for attending a clinic in Co. Wicklow on the same day. The auditors said they were unable to determine if the claim forms involved were correct.
• The audit reported a possible 85 journeys in 2012 with possible increased mileage claims due to entry of the incorrect base clinic by the same GP, thereby lengthening the journeys claimed for, resulting in a cost of €1,166 to the HSE in mileage allegedly over-claimed by the GP concerned.
• Another GP was alleged to have claimed annual leave while also claiming for clinical duties on two occasions.
• Another GP made payment claims for providing services at a Dublin clinic that had closed down two years previously, as the building had been condemned, the audit reported. This same doctor also claimed travel expenses for attending the same non-existent clinic. The clinic's services had been transferred to another centre attended by the same GP.
• The same GP claimed excess mileage on 22 occasions in 2012, according to the audit.
• Of the 145 working hours claim forms submitted by another GP, more than two-thirds were certified as approved for payment prior to the actual hours being worked, the audit states.
• The same GP on one occasion claimed for clinical duties while also claiming for attendance at a clinical meeting during the same hours, and also claimed for clinical duties on one occasion in 2012 while on annual leave, the report states.

The audit found the majority of GP claim forms for attendance were of poor quality (badly photocopied with smudged ink), making it impossible for the auditors to determine details such as date and locations.

The probe also found that two non-medical drug addiction service staff on salaries of €35,560 each received total annual payments in 2012 of €71,052 and €68,326 respectively, when overtime and additional payments made were added on to their basic pay.

The audit said it identified instances in 2012 where some of these staff members, called general assistants (GA), while on annual leave returned to perform duties and claimed overtime.

Two of these staff members submitted overtime claims for attendance at the Dublin clinic referred to in one of the GP's claims that had been closed two years previously.

The audit also found anomalies in payments to pharmacists providing services for the addiction service.

The audit report was released under FOI.