HSE refers unpublished Children's Health Ireland report to gardaí
THE HSE HAS decided to refer an unpublished report detailing concerns at Children's Health Ireland to gardaí.
The internal investigation, the details of which were first reported by the Sunday Times and subsequently seen by
The Journal
and other media outlets, detailed concerns about waiting list initiatives and work culture at a hospital run by CHI.
It detailed how a consultant was paid €35,800 by the hospital after money was received from the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) to help cut long waiting lists.
The CHI report looked at concerns relating to access to services for patients waiting the longest on lists, as well as relationships between staff at one of its hospitals.
Earlier today, Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill
called for a redacted version of the report
to be released in the public interest.
Speaking on RTÉ Radio One, she said she met with the Attorney General last week and was informed that she does not have a 'legal basis to publish the report' as it is the 'property of CHI'.
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'Nevertheless, I think it's important that a redacted version of this report is published in the broader public interest,' the minister said.
She said she wants 'maximum productivity' in the public healthcare system and to 'remove incentives' which could hinder that.
CHI said this week that the internal report, which was carried out in 2021 and 2022, led to recommendations that 'have been implemented and are ongoing'.
It said the reported five out-patient clinics did not take place in the consultant's private rooms but 'occurred in a public clinic, in one of its hospitals, on a Saturday'.
'The NTPF funded the hospital for this waiting list initiative and there was no charge to patients,' said CHI.
'This was over and above the Consultant's contractual hours. There are no direct payments to CHI staff from NTPF.'
The report states that the consultant saw patients in 10-minute slots, shorter than the time they would spend with clinicians in the public, non-NTPF clinics.
HSE CEO Bernard Gloster has
said he was 'shocked' by the report
and suggested he could refer 'the matter to the gardaí'.
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