Latest news with #UHL
Irish Examiner
21-05-2025
- Health
- Irish Examiner
Mother receives Cervical Check appointment letter for daughter Eve, who died in 2019
A Limerick mother received a Cervical Check appointment for her daughter six years after she died in controversial circumstances at University Hospital Limerick (UHL). Melanie Cleary received the appointment letter for her daughter Eve on Tuesday. Eve Cleary, aged 21, died in July 2019 at UHL. Her case was widely covered in the media after it emerged she died two days after she fell and hurt her leg and went to the emergency department of the Limerick hospital where she spent 17 hours on a trolley, and over three hours after she had been discharged from the hospital. During the case, a medical expert on the Cleary side said if Eve had been given an anti-coagulant, it would have prevented her from developing the blood clot in her lung which led to her cardiac arrest and death. Her family settled a High Court action over her death in January last year. Her mother Melanie said on Wednesday: 'She's gone six years in July now, I wasn't expecting anything about an appointment for her.' She said she was shocked to get a health appointment of all issues. She was sure Eve was removed from these databases after the family received a hospital bill soon after her death. 'At the time with the bill when she died, I went to the HSE with that bill and to the department of social protection and Revenue to make sure her name wasn't on any databases. So they were aware she was dead,' she said. I was so angry when I read it. How was her name even on it when they told me that nothing would come for her again? "It was hurtful, they dragged us through the courts already. It's just wrong. Ms Cleary shared the letter and her upset on social media. She intended to contact CervicalCheck later this week to complain. However, to her further surprise another letter arrived at the family home on Wednesday morning. 'They obviously read it on Twitter (X), and this morning at 9am the door-bell went and it was a taxi-driver outside with a letter for me,' she said. 'He said he was told to put it into my hands.' Eve Cleary, aged 21, died in July 2019 at UHL. File picture In this second letter, dated May 21, the Limerick CervicalCheck service 'apologised unreservedly' for the mistake. The manager wrote she was 'sorry for the upset, anger and sorrow this has caused you and your family". She explained Eve's name came into their system in data on over 100,000 school students who received the HPV vaccine as teens. This group is now eligible for screening which starts at age 25. Ms Cleary said while she feels less angry after reading this, her distress remains. 'My own girls, they're all in their late teens, early 20s, they were fuming yesterday,' she said. 'They were saying this morning they were thinking about Eve all night, about this.' Melanie Cleary called on the HSE and related services to think about how data errors affect families. 'It is something that happens a lot, because other people have been telling me they got letters, not from CervicalCheck, but from other health services,' she said. 'Really they should join up all their information, I don't know how it isn't linked in properly.' "I really hope this doesn't happen to anyone else.' Read More Concerns raised over lack of clarity on resumption of Laura Brennan HPV catch-up scheme
Extra.ie
08-05-2025
- Business
- Extra.ie
€2m worth of HSE contracts went to firms linked to staff
The HSE is reviewing all 'insourcing' activity after € 2 million worth of contracts were awarded to firms connected to health service staff without open competition. Just over € 1.5 million of this sum went to businesses linked to two staff members at University Hospital Limerick (UHL), with auditors raising concerns over value for money. Public Expenditure Minister and Fianna Fáil deputy leader Jack Chambers told the Dáil yesterday that the health service has paused any projects whereby existing staff are being 'hired or paid by a separate entity to work on initiatives in their own place or type of work'. Jack Chambers. Pic: Sam Boal/Collins Photos 'Tender processes were not appropriately followed,' Mr Chambers said. 'The CEO of the HSE [Bernard Gloster] has instigated a review of insourcing across the HSE, not just because of the above audit but also due to broader concerns about how it operates and value-for-money considerations.' It comes after an internal HSE audit, completed in June 2024 and recently released to Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín, found UHL Concern: Bernard Gloster consultants 'set up private companies and referred patients to their own companies'. The review was ordered to examine outsourcing practices in three Irish hospitals: UHL, Galway University Hospital (GUH) and Tallaght University Hospital (TUH). It found that € 14.2 million was paid out to third-party providers by UHL in 2023 without open competition under a Government initiative to reduce waiting lists. Of this sum, €1,633,972 was awarded to two separate companies which were owned or part-owned by HSE employees. HSE. Pic: Eamonn Farrell/Photocall Ireland A further €391,142 was awarded to a third company which listed a member of HSE staff as a director. While auditors found 'no evidence' of the employees in question being involved in the awarding of the contracts, they did receive confirmation from UHL management that the hospital had 'no dedicated procurement function'. ' Awarding contracts without competitive tendering increases the risk of undiscovered or unmanaged conflicts of interest and reputational risk regarding the integrity of the process,' the auditors stated. The review raised concerns that contracting existing staff could have legal ramifications and result in higher costs than if the hospital paid the staff directly through overtime, meaning 'value for money is not achieved'. Mr Tóibín described the report's findings as 'shocking'. Peadar Tóibí. Pic: Sam Boal/ The TD said the audit 'corroborates' allegations brought to his attention that consultants 'are creating their own private companies and diverting patients from public waiting lists to their newly created private companies'. 'That report states that the Government was getting a handle on it, but we are actually hearing of this happening in real time at the moment,' he said. Mr Chambers said the audit findings are 'very serious and need to be properly and thoroughly followed through by the HSE'. 'The HSE's CEO, Bernard Gloster, I understand, has, at the request of the Minister for Health [Jennifer Carroll MacNeill], initiated a detailed survey of all sourcing activity in the HSE,' the minister told the Dáil. Mr Gloster has also issued an instruction that 'all insourcing where existing staff are hired, engaged or paid by a separate entity to work on initiatives in their own place of work must now be paused'. Mr Chambers said: 'Having been made aware of this issue, it is serious and if appropriate procedures have not been followed, there has to be full follow-through from the HSE. 'All dimensions of the respective financial frameworks should be followed by anyone working in the HSE regarding sourcing and outsourcing.' The audit found that while staff providing 'insourcing' services 'are not acting as HSE employees', they are still allowed to use 'HSE facilities, medical equipment, their staff system access, and log-ins'. The auditors found that this situation 'could have revenue and legal implications for the HSE'.
Irish Daily Mirror
07-05-2025
- Business
- Irish Daily Mirror
Dáil told consultants 'funnelling' public hospital patients onto private lists
Hospital consultants are 'creating their own private companies and diverting patients from public waiting lists', the Dáil has heard. Public Expenditure Minister Jack Chambers confirmed to Aontu leader Peadar Tóibín that the HSE has ordered a 'pause' on this behaviour. A HSE internal audit report completed in 2024 called Non-Recurring Funded Waiting List Initiatives was given to Deputy Tóibín following a parliamentary question to Health Minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill. He told the Dáil that he had been told by people working in the health service that there were 'senior healthcare professionals at the moment, including some consultants, who are creating their own private companies and diverting patients from public waiting lists to their newly created private companies'. He continued: 'It has been alleged in one case that a consultant, who created a private firm to read scans, used the hospital public waiting lists to funnel work through rostering into his own private company. 'It is an incredible situation and a major conflict of interest for anybody in a public role to be doing this in relation to their own businesses. 'The Minister must admit that we cannot allow anybody on the public payroll to be in a position where they are creating a private company and funnelling public work to their own private company. 'An internal audit report carried out by the office of the chief internal auditor was written less than a year ago, and its job was to ascertain if private companies were used to provide additional services such as this. 'It found that there was a major breakdown in terms of compliance and value for money. 'For example, UHL was found not to have conducted an open procurement process with €14.2 million paid to these types of providers just in one year, 2023. 'Management confirmed that there were no dedicated procurement functions within the group for this. 'In UHL, two private providers were owned or part-owned by two separate UHL employees. A third company was owned by an HSE employee with another hospital.' Public Expenditure Minister Jack Chambers, who was taking Leaders' Questions in place of the Taoiseach, stated that the matters raised by Deputy Tóibín were 'very serious and need to be properly and thoroughly followed through by the HSE'. He said: 'There are references there to conflicts of interest and value-for-money concerns, which are extremely concerning. 'Under initiatives to reduce waiting lists, the HSE can outsource to private hospitals under the surgical services framework and the private provider framework.' Minister Chambers also stated that Bernard Gloster, the CEO of the HSE, had 'issued an instruction that all insourcing where existing staff are hired, engaged or paid by a separate entity to work on initiatives in their own place or type of work must now be paused'. Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest news from the Irish Mirror direct to your inbox: Sign up here.
Irish Times
07-05-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
Consultants diverted public patients to private companies, earning €14.2 million in a year, Dáil told
Senior healthcare professionals including consultants created private companies and diverted patients from public waiting lists to those companies, with €14.2 million paid in one year alone from University Hospital Limerick (UHL), the Dáil has heard. Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín said it was a 'major conflict of interest for anybody in a public role to do this in relation to their own business'. The Meath West TD cited UHL, which 'was found not to have conducted an open procurement process with €14.2 million paid to these types of providers in just one year, 2023'. He cited one case in which a consultant created a private firm to read scans and 'used the hospital public waiting lists to then funnel work through rostering into his own private company'. READ MORE In a parliamentary reply he received, Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill told Mr Tóibín that an internal audit ascertained that private companies were used to provide additional services 'and there was a major breakdown in terms of compliance and in relation to value for money as well', Mr Tóibín said. Management confirmed there were 'no dedicated procurement functions within the group'. Two private providers were owned or part-owned by two separate UHL employees, and a third company was owned by a HSE employee of another hospital, he said. Hitting out at the Government's policy on 'pay and numbers', Mr Tóibín said there was an effective recruitment embargo. He called on the Government to end the embargo and 'the practice of public staff creating private companies and following patients'. Replying for the Government, Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers said at the request of the Minister for Health, the CEO of the HSE has initiated a detailed survey of all insourcing activity within the HSE. All insourcing has been paused 'where existing staff are hired, engaged or paid by separate entities to work on initiatives' in their area of work. 'Only insourcing where the HSE directly engages its own staff through payroll can continue until this survey is completed,' the Minister said. He said the HSE chief executive had instigated the review not just because of these concerns 'but also due to broader concerns about how it is operating, and value-for-money considerations in relation to the instruction to pause work for existing staff hired or engaged by separate entities to work on initiatives in the workplace'. Mr Chambers pointed out that 'under an initiative to reduce waiting lists, the HSE can outsource to private hospitals'. There is also 'a focus on deploying additional weekend evening and out-of-hours activity to reduce overall waiting lists'.
The Journal
07-05-2025
- Business
- The Journal
Hospital consultants using waiting lists to funnel business to their private companies, Dáil told
THE DÁIL HAS heard claims of huge conflicts of interest in Irish hospitals, with some hospital consultants diverting patients on public waiting lists to their own private companies. Aontú TD Peadar Tóibín made the allegation today during Leaders' Questions. 'It has been alleged in one case that a consultant who created this private firm to read scans, used the hospital public waiting lists to then funnel work through rostering into his own private company. An incredible situation, a major conflict of interest for anybody in a public role to be doing this in relation to their own businesses,' Tóibín said. Tóibín noted that practices of this kind had been uncovered via an internal audit report carried out by the HSE last year. He said situations like this must not be allowed. Taking Leaders' Questions today on behalf of Taoiseach Micheál Martin, Minister for Public Expenditure, Jack Chambers said the matters raised by Tóibín were 'very serious and need to be properly and thoroughly followed through by the HSE.' 'There obviously are references there to conflicts of interest and value for money, concerns which are extremely concerning,' he said. He explained that under initiatives to reduce waiting lists, the HSE can outsource some services to private hospitals, which can be done internally. This is known as 'in-sourcing'. Advertisement Chambers said: 'The HSE ceo, I understand, at the request of the Minister for Health, has initiated a detailed survey of all in-sourcing activity within the HSE.' He added: 'The HSE ceo has also issued an instruction that all in-sourcing where existing staff are hired, engaged or paid by a separate entity to work on initiatives in their own place or type of work must now be paused. 'Only in-sourcing where the HSE directly engages its own staff through payroll can continue until this survey is completed.' UHL Chambers noted that there was an internal audit carried out on in-sourcing at University Hospital Limerick. Published in September 2024, the internal audit found that consultants were carrying out insourcing in UHL. 'The audit found that consultants set up private companies and referred patients to their own companies. Tender processes were not appropriately followed,' Chambers told the Dáil. 'The CEO of the HSE has instigated a review of insourcing, as I've said, across the HSE, not just because of the above audit, but also due to broader concerns about how it is operating and value for money, considerations.' Chambers added: 'So I have to say, having been made aware of this, it is serious, and if appropriate procedures haven't been followed, there has to be full follow-through from the HSE.' Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone... A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation. Learn More Support The Journal
