LAST UPDATE | 5 Jun

THE HSE HAS decided to refer an unpublished report detailing concerns at Children’s Health Ireland to gardaí and the Irish Medical Council.

The internal investigation, the details of which were first reported by the Sunday Times and subsequently seen by The Journal and other media outlets, came about after concerns were raised about how waiting list initiatives were being carried out 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 HSE has decided to refer matters raised in the report to An Garda Síochána and intends to meet the Gardaí very shortly to discuss this,” the HSE said in a statement this morning.

“We have also decided that matters raised in the report will be referred to the Medical Council, and we will discuss with CHI how this will be done.”

In a statement today, An Garda Síochána said that it can only comment “when such matters have been referred to us”.

“The bodies making the referral will need to confirm when and to what section such referrals are made,” the statement read. 

“In general, referrals don’t automatically result in criminal investigations,” a Garda spokesperson said, adding that referrals are first assessed by investigators to establish if there is “a potential criminal offence that would necessitate a criminal investigation”.

The CHI report also 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.

Yesterday, 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”.

“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”.