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HSE contracts

  • 01-02-2013 2:13pm
    #1
    mariaalice
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 12,630 ✭✭✭✭


    Could someone explain this to me, someone needed to ge a small job done on their wheelchair, this services is a community services contracted out by the HSE...The person doing the job came from Mayo to Dublin to do the job( I think the company could be based in Mayo but I am not sure of this )... the job took max ten min...the petrol costs alone must have been a fair bit..so my guess is there bill to the HSC would be at least a couple of hundred euro..compleat madness for a ten min job.

    How are HSE contracts like that given out.


Comments

  • #2
    Chris_5339762
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,967 ✭✭✭Chris_5339762


    Part of the problem could be that the local staff member who would have been involved in doing that has left, and with noone else to fill his role the next stage is a contract.


  • #3
    Godge
    Closed Accounts Posts: 21,727 ✭✭✭✭Godge


    mariaalice wrote: »
    Could someone explain this to me, someone needed to ge a small job done on their wheelchair, this services is a community services contracted out by the HSE...The person doing the job came from Mayo to Dublin to do the job( I think the company could be based in Mayo but I am not sure of this )... the job took max ten min...the petrol costs alone must have been a fair bit..so my guess is there bill to the HSC would be at least a couple of hundred euro..compleat madness for a ten min job.

    How are HSE contracts like that given out.

    Why do you say the bill to the HSE would be at least a couple of hundred euro?

    Say you buy a Whirlpool washing machine. Say it comes with a 3-year parts and labour maintenance contract. If your machine breaks down five times in the three years, it is Whirlpool who are unlucky and have to cover the cost. If the machine doesn't break down in the 3 years, Whirlpool are lucky and don't have to cover the cost.

    In your case, it would seem to me that the HSE tenders for a buy and maintain contract, the principle would be the same. If the company (and if it is Mayo it may well be this company http://www.homecaremedicalsupplies.ie/aspx/Homepage.aspx )has a wheelchair that breaks down, they have to repair it at their cost (not the HSE's cost). Given the number of wheelchairs in the country, he was probably down doing a number of these repair jobs in Dublin at the same time. Either way I don't see how this is a major cost to the HSE. In fact by centrally tendering for it and including a maintenance element they probably save money.

    Now that may not be the case but it is certainly the way that tendering is going as anyone who has looked at e-tenders will have noticed.

    So unless you can provide some information about the contract the HSE entered into that we can examine, this thread is probably just another excuse to bash some or other part of the public service.


  • #4
    L1011
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 69,592 ✭✭✭✭L1011


    Did they actually come from Mayo or just have an MO registered vehicle? Large contracting companies will generally have staff based in multiple locations but register all vehicles at one base.

    Then there's the likelyhood that it was a warranty repair anyway.


  • #5
    mariaalice
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 12,630 ✭✭✭✭mariaalice


    The wheelchair was not under warranty and he did come up from Mayo.


  • #6
    Godge
    Closed Accounts Posts: 21,727 ✭✭✭✭Godge


    mariaalice wrote: »
    The wheelchair was not under warranty and he did come up from Mayo.

    There may well be a maintenance contract in place with the company in Mayo covering the whole country with a fixed charge for each call-out.


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  • #7
    L1011
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 69,592 ✭✭✭✭L1011


    mariaalice wrote: »
    The wheelchair was not under warranty and he did come up from Mayo.

    How do you know what maintenance and warranty contracts the HSE have?

    You don't, of course. Just like you don't know that this wasn't the lowest price service (if not already covered) they could get, either.


  • #8
    mariaalice
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 12,630 ✭✭✭✭mariaalice


    MYOB wrote: »
    How do you know what maintenance and warranty contracts the HSE have?

    You don't, of course. Just like you don't know that this wasn't the lowest price service (if not already covered) they could get, either.

    Off course I don't have the information that why I asked the question, but the cost of the call out charge or what ever it was should be a matter of public record as the HSE is a public services funded by our taxes.

    In the NHS hospital trust where my daughter works all correspondence received by the CEO plus his or her replies is available on line for anyone to read and thats the sort of openess we need here.


  • #9
    Kristopherus
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 11,907 ✭✭✭✭Kristopherus


    mariaalice wrote: »
    Could someone explain this to me, someone needed to ge a small job done on their wheelchair, this services is a community services contracted out by the HSE...The person doing the job came from Mayo to Dublin to do the job( I think the company could be based in Mayo but I am not sure of this )... the job took max ten min...the petrol costs alone must have been a fair bit..so my guess is there bill to the HSC would be at least a couple of hundred euro..compleat madness for a ten min job.

    How are HSE contracts like that given out.

    Simple explanation. HSE have global contacts with those kind of suppliers, i.e. beds, chairs, hoists. The supplier quotes for repairs on a national basis. Some are local, some are distant, but in the end, the whole thing averages out. Nothing to get too hot about, tbh.


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