Today’s publication of a summary of findings and recommendations into a 2022 examination of a clinical department in Children’s Health Ireland (CHI) does not provide a level of detail sufficient to serve the public interest, according to Social Democrats TD Pádraig Rice.
Deputy Rice, who is the party’s spokesperson on health, said:
“CHI’s internal review highlighted a culture within this department where change was slow, lacked governance and robust processes, and was influenced by strong and challenging personalities. There were reports of interpersonal difficulties between team members, with a high attrition rate among support staff due to bullying issues.
“Separately, the review noted a number of issues in relation to a National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) outpatient waiting list initiative. It found that some patients could have been seen by other departmental colleagues within the existing day to day service and potentially managed in a more proactive way.
“A ‘significant risk’ was also identified where only one employee managed the needs of a complex tertiary speciality. This dependency on one individual for a critical service was not in line with best practice and created a vulnerability in this speciality, according to the summary published today.
“While CHI has insisted it cannot publish the review in full due to legal advice, the reality is that we have been drip-fed its findings by the media for a number of weeks now. As a result of the leaking of the report, today’s summary does not tell us much more than we already knew.
“Given the level of information already in the public domain, it would have been preferable if CHI had published a redacted version of this review instead of a summary that does not provide an adequate level of detail.
“It is beyond time for answers and accountability from CHI – something I hope we will get when they appear before the Health Committee later this week.”
June 16, 2025