Tallaght changes welcome, but patient safety cannot be left to individual hospitals
Issued : Tuesday 16 March, 2010
Statement by Jan O'Sullivan TD
Minister of State, Department of Environment, Community and Local Government with special responsibility for Housing and Planning
I welcome the measures announced by the Board of Tallaght Hospital today including the streamlining of the board and greater focus on patient safety issues.
However, the revelations from Tallaght have raised concerns that are wider than this one hospital. The public need to know that all hospitals have clear procedures in place that protect patients. In addition, we need to know if there are other hospitals with unopened referral letters or unread x-rays.
There are three priorities now that need to be addressed:
First, the Minister must strengthen the powers of HIQA so that it can go in and inspect and investigate any question of patient safety in any hospital, public, voluntary or private.
Second, the independent inquiry promised, needs to be established immediately. The inquiry must be genuinely independent of the HSE, an organisation that is directly involved in many of the issues that need to be investigated. These include the adequacy of funding and resources; the allocation of time to public and private patients; and the protocols that should be in place.
Finally, and most importantly, any outstanding letters or x-rays in Tallaght must be examined immediately and all of the patients directly affected, must be contacted in fully informed without delay.
