ACT Health bureaucrats may have wrongly paid a series of invoices for IT services as part of a multimillion-dollar contract with a company hosting the territory's digital health record, the directorate fears.
A damning internal audit has uncovered instances where the ACT Health directorate has been billed for services inconsistent with the terms of an estimated $110 million contract.
The audit found staff did not have the ability to accurately confirm what was being paid.
The ACT's top health bureaucrat said there were "no excuses" for the situation, and the consequences cannot be underestimated.
Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith was kept in the dark over the full details of the audit, she said, and has demanded the directorate attempt to recoup any payments made unnecessarily. The matter has been referred to the ACT Auditor-General.
But the opposition has hit out at Ms Stephen-Smith saying it was a shocking admission from the minister and showed a lack of ministerial oversight on how public money is being spent.
The ACT Integrity Commissioned said it was investigating the conduct of ACT Health executives involved in delivering the digital health records project.
"No adverse inferences should be drawn about any individual while the commission conducts its investigation," the watchdog said in a statement on Wednesday afternoon.
The ACT Health directorate entered into a five-year contract with NTT Ltd Australia in 2021 for the company to host the territory's digital health record.
The contract was expected to cost $60 million over five years but was updated to $72.9 million in October 2021 after extending the contract by a year and then $110 million in March 2022.
An ACT Health spokesman said the increase to $110 million "was recommended due to the need for migration of related systems and the establishment of core datacentre services".
The questionable payments were highlighted after the ACT Health directorate received 118 invoices from the company in June 2023. The invoices totalled $7.9 million. There was $3.6 million paid during the month and the remaining $4.3 million was accrued.
The internal audit found the directorate was unable to provide assurances for the services they were invoiced.
It found staff did not have the "time, skills and system to adequately acquit the products and services specified in NTT invoices before those invoices have been paid".
"There is a significant risk that ACTHD has paid (or accrued) for products that are inconsistent with the terms and conditions of the deed," the audit found.
Ms Stephen-Smith said she was not explicitly briefed on the audit and the circumstances that led to it being undertaken.
"While I have been kept updated on this work broadly, I am disappointed that I was not explicitly briefed on the NTT invoices audit and the concerns that led to it being undertaken," she said.
"The findings of this report are very concerning and are being further investigated."
Ms Stephen-Smith said she first heard about the audit in May, but it was only referenced in material related to funding pressures associated with the implementation of the digital health record.
She said ACT Health interim director-general Dave Peffer first raised concerns with her about the handling of the invoices last month. He only started acting in the role in late-June. Mr Peffer is the chief executive of Canberra Health Services.
The audit was conducted last year. ACT Health's finance team has been scrutinising the payment process and is working with representatives from NTT to review invoices issued.
Opposition health spokeswoman Leanne Castley said it was concerning ACT Health staff were not able to confirm what was being paid. But she hit out at Ms Stephen-Smith's leadership.
"The fact that the Minister claims she was kept in the dark despite this issue being referenced in a report relating to funding pressures highlights a health system that is in disarray because of a lack of leadership from Minister Stephen-Smith," she said.
"I think Canberrans are right to ask what other serious issues the Health Minister might have overlooked and what the Directorate might be keeping from her?
"This issue confirms that there is a lack of Ministerial oversight on how Canberrans money is being spent.
"This shocking admission by the Minister adds to the growing list of hundreds of millions of Canberrans dollars that the Labor-Greens government has wasted with no accountability."
Authorities have yet to determine how many, if any, invoices were paid incorrectly.
Mr Peffer wrote to staff about the matter on Wednesday morning ahead of the audit being publicly released.
"The findings of those audits highlight failures in financial management that we, as a team, will need to face up to," Mr Peffer said.
Mr Peffer said there were no excuses for the situation and public servants needed to manage public money appropriately.
"The consequences of audit findings like these cannot be underestimated," he said.
"There [are] no excuses for where we find ourselves today. As public servants we rely on trust and confidence we have from our community and our government in delivering advice, projects and services. In return, they expect our management of public money to be beyond question."
The audit was only publicly released after it was referenced in a recent estimates hearing. Ms Stephen-Smith said she had not received the audit report by the July 25 hearing, despite it being finalised in April.
Opposition health spokeswoman Leanne Castley asked health officials in a hearing why more than $114 million had been paid to this company across 300 invoices.
ACT Health corporate, communications and delivery deputy director-general Liz Lopa told the hearing the audit found improvements could be made.
"The consultant that did the check for us did find that there could be some improvement in practices around the paying of invoices, so we put those improvements in place," she said.
The digital health record collated 40 separate paper and digital records into the one system, and is used to manage individual health records. It came into place in late-2022.
Ms Stephen-Smith said while the audit had found serious financial issues within ACT Health's digital services division it had not affected the digital health record.
"I want to assure the Canberra community these issues have had no impact on the practical delivery of the digital health record," she said.
"We have and continue to see benefits from the digital health record every day in the provision of high-quality and person-centred care."
