The NSW Auditor General has released a report on the financial audits of the State’s Government health bodies, reporting an increase in information system control deficiencies across the health system.
Auditor General, Margaret Crawford said the report focused on key observations and findings from the most recent financial audits of the Ministry of Health, local health districts, specialty health networks, health corporations and independent health agencies.
“Audit findings relating to internal controls deficiencies increased across health entities,” Ms Crawford said.
“Contributing to this increase were deficiencies in information system controls, which accounted for nearly a quarter of all control deficiencies,” she said.
“Repeat audit findings also accounted for more than a quarter of all control deficiencies”
Ms Crawford said the report found that health entities continued to experience challenges with managing employees’ excessive annual leave and timekeeping practices.
“Managing excess annual leave remains a challenge for NSW Health – 36.9 per cent of the workforce have excess annual leave balances,” she said.
The Auditor General made several recommendations encouraging health entities to review their approach to managing excess annual leave, such as: monitoring current and projected leave balances on a monthly basis; agreeing to formal leave plans with employees; and encouraging staff that perform key control functions to take at least two consecutive weeks of leave a year.
Ms Crawford also recommended that the Ambulance Service of NSW review the effectiveness of its rostering to identify strategies to reduce overtime payments, as its overtime figures remained significantly higher than other health entities.
The 49-page audit report can be accessed at this PS News link.
