HSE intends to meet gardaí to discuss internal CHI report
The HSE has said it has decided to refer matters raised in the internal Children's Health Ireland report to An Garda Síochana and intends to meet gardaí very shortly to discuss it.
The HSE said it has also decided that matters raised in the report will be referred to the Medical Council and it will discuss with CHI how this will be done. The Medical Council is the policing body for doctors' behaviour.
Once the report has been received, gardaí will assess whether an investigation should be commenced and, ultimately, if a report should be sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions.
The unpublished report has caused shock in Government circles, with Taoiseach Mícheál Martin saying yesterday that the "essence" of the report should be made public given the disquiet it has triggered.
The report, which has been seen by RTÉ News, concluded that "a root and branch review" of use of the National Treatment Purchase Fund and other waiting list initiatives "should be undertaken".
It also said "the longest waiters were not seen at NTPF clinics" and that "45 children who required surgery did not receive a date for same and instead were placed back on one consultant's inpatient waiting list which has a significant wait time".
The report was first referenced by the Sunday Times last month, when it reported that a consultant who has since retired had breached guidelines by referring public patients to the doctor's own weekend clinics.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Times
10 hours ago
- Irish Times
Leona Macken on cancer in Ireland: ‘Mammies, daughters, sisters are being ripped from their families'
Leona Macken says she is fighting to stay alive for her daughters. The 38-year-old woman with incurable cervical cancer received an apology on Tuesday from the HSE over 'failings' that occurred in two smear tests before her diagnosis in 2023. Leona, from Cork, and her husband, Alan, from Dublin, have two young daughters – Quin is eight and Drew is about to turn six. In an interview with The Irish Times at their home in Artane, Leona says: 'That's what keeps me going. I want them to look back and see how much I wanted to stay here, and how much I fought to stay here. READ MORE 'All I've ever wanted to do is give my kids a nice childhood that they don't have to recover from when they're adults. And I just feel like it's a bit out of my hands now. I mean, they're going to be affected, no matter what.' Leona sued the HSE over two cervical smear tests, one in 2016 and one in 2020, claiming they were incorrectly reported as negative. Medical expert evidence given in her case indicated that the test by US company Quest Diagnostics, which analyses smear tests for the HSE, should not have been reported as negative and concluded that the delay in identifying precancerous abnormalities directly resulted in her developing cervical cancer. Despite the clear smears, she knew something was wrong. She thought she might be experiencing polycystic ovaries, endometriosis or perimenopause, but didn't think 'for one second' that it was cancer. [ CervicalCheck patients have improved healthcare with their advocacy, study finds Opens in new window ] However, the hairdresser was diagnosed with stage 3 cervical cancer in June 2023. She had a hysterectomy followed by chemoradiotherapy. Despite intensive treatment, a recurrence of her cancer was diagnosed in early 2025. The mother of two now has stage 4 cancer meaning that it is treatable, to an extent, but not curable. She has asked doctors about her prognosis but hasn't been given an exact answer. 'They said: 'Years, but short years.' I know statistically it's kind of five years' time from when you were diagnosed. There are some women who got six, seven, eight years. I'm just determined to get longer again. There's nothing I won't try, there's nowhere I won't go,' she says. She has been looking into clinical trials in the US. For now she is still receiving chemotherapy and immunotherapy in Dublin. She said her pain and symptoms have improved, so she is hopeful for good news at her next scan. She says she is open with her daughters about her illness but tries to protect them as much as possible. Her oldest daughter, Quin, will often ask: 'Will this medicine work?' to which she will reply: 'Hopefully, I'm really, really trying.' 'I'll never say: 'Yeah, I'll be okay,' because I don't know if I'll be okay.' I wasn't dragged through a trial, thank God ... but these court cases shouldn't be happening in the first place — Leona Macken Her daughters cried when they found out she was going to lose her hair, so she tried to make the experience positive for them. 'I let them cut it and I let them shave it. I was just thinking, if they come home from school some day and I'm sitting here with no hair, it would be such a shock to them. 'So, we tried to make it fun. We were crying, they were crying, we were hugging, we were laughing, but we tried to make it as fun as possible. 'They each did a plait and cut the plait out, and they kept a plait.' Her family and the wider community have been a big support since her diagnosis and 'keep me going'. Leona would 'love to sit down with the Minister for Health, woman to woman'. Her solicitor Cian O'Carroll has contacted the office of the Minister, Jennifer Carroll MacNeill , in a bid to set up a meeting. 'I would love to just sit down with her and just speak to her, woman to woman, let her see that I'm not a statistic, I'm a person, and there's so many more of me,' says Leona. 'It's people's lives – mammies, daughters, sisters are being ripped from their families, and the devastation that is left is massive. 'The way I look at it is: I feel like I won't know any different, I'll be gone. My kids and my husband and my family will never be the same again. I'm not the only one, and I really want to stress that, because even though I'm talking about my story, it's not just my story.' Leona Macken. Photograph: Alan Betson Speaking to RTÉ radio during the week, the Minister apologised to Leona and said women should not have to fight for access to their medical history. Leona says she is aware of a number of other women who are in a similar position to her but not doing as well, so she feels compelled to speak out. She wants to 'stop another family from going through this' but fears she won't be the last person affected by misreading of smears. [ Woman who received HSE apology over cancer diagnosis failings encourages women to get a smear test Opens in new window ] Despite her faith being shaken in the system, she believes women should be offered smears on a more regular basis. 'It doesn't hurt. It takes minutes. It could prolong your life,' she says. She says her two daughters will '100 per cent' get the vaccine against human papillomavirus (HPV), viruses that can cause cancer, and smear tests when they are older. She says questions remain as to how her smear tests were incorrectly read, but she has 'let go' of the initial anger she felt. 'I was angry at the start, but I had to let go of the anger because it was not doing any good, and it was kind of ruining the happiness of now,' she says. 'I'm not angry any more, I'm more worried. I'm just worried about my kids now, and other women going through this. 'I just want something positive to come from this. I don't want this to be a negative thing. I know it's a horror story, and I know people are horrified. They're only hearing about it now; we've been dealing with this for two years. 'So, for me now, I've let go of the anger and think: These the cards I've been dealt with, what can I do with it? What good can come of this?' That's where I'm at now.' On Tuesday, an apology was read in the High Court as she settled her action against the HSE. She told The Irish Times that while the apology cannot change what happened to her, it was still 'a big deal for me'. 'I felt like it just validated everything I'm saying,' she says. 'I know that changes nothing, but hopefully, going forward, it'll change something. 'I mean, there's baby steps being taken. I wasn't dragged through a trial, thank God ... but these court cases shouldn't be happening in the first place.' The letter of apology from the chief executive of the National Screening Service, Fiona Murphy, stated, on behalf of the service and the HSE, that it wished to apologise to Leona and her family 'for the failings that have occurred and led to your diagnosis'. 'I wish to express our deep regret to you and your family and acknowledge the many challenges that you have faced as a result of your diagnosis.'
Irish Independent
12 hours ago
- Irish Independent
Public hospitals asked to account for funding allocated towards waiting lists in wake of CHI funding scandal
It follows the temporary pausing of funding due to Children's Health Ireland for doing additional clinics and procedures with additional money. It followed recent revelations in an internal CHI report from 2021 which found the selection of patients for these extra clinics was was not done fairly by one consultant who earned over €34,000 for the additional work. The NTPF has €230m this year to distribute among public hospitals to either do additional in-house work to reduce waiting lists or send patients to paid-for private hospital care. The NTPF said today that it is 'completely unacceptable that there would be any misuse of public money and that children would wait longer for surgery when the whole purpose of the NTPF is to ensure faster access to treatment for public patients'. "The NTPF will fully reserve its position in relation to any proven misuse of public money and explore all options for restitution while ensuring public patients get the treatment they deserve. 'Following initial reports, the NTPF immediately placed a temporary pause on all insourcing work with CHI while it initiated a review of this work to gather the necessary assurances regarding compliance, value for money and appropriate use of NTPF funding mechanisms.' The statement said that this work is 'ongoing at the highest level with CHI to obtain and review these assurances'. "It is important to stress that all pre-planned insourcing work has continued with CHI and the intention is that the temporary pause will be lifted as soon as the NTPF is satisfied with the assurances given by CHI in this review so as to minimise any disruption to children and their families. 'Fears that thousands of children will face surgery delays are not correct and NTPF-funded insourcing accounts for a very small proportion of total work undertaken by CHI,' it said. In the year to date, the NTPF was funding an average of approximately four surgeries (inpatient or day-case) per week and an average of 115 outpatient consultations-initial appointments with a consultant-per week through insourcing with CHI, it said . 'Every appointment is extremely important though and the NTPF wishes to be in a position to safely and confidently lift the pause as quickly as possible.'
Irish Independent
15 hours ago
- Irish Independent
Cork & Kerry HSE bosses presented with harrowing details of the children ‘falling through the cracks'
Latest HSE Regional Forum hears how parents of children with special and mental health needs are struggling to access a raft of vital services as their loved ones 'regress' Today at 07:00 Harrowing stories, from that of a single parent in Cork whose child has additional needs and has access to just a single hour of respite in a week, to a severely mentally unwell child in West Cork who it's claimed was 'ignored' by CAMHS services, were among those told by representatives at a recent health forum. The plight of children with additional needs across Cork and Kerry has been highlighted at the forum, where the HSE was told that they are being left down by both the Executive and the Department of Education in having access to essential services.
