HSE halts funding of hepatitis C group Positive Action

The HSE has pulled the plug on funding for a support group for women given contaminated blood products by the State, on foot of serious concerns about “inappropriate and extravagant” use of public funds.

The HSE wrote to Positive Action this week saying it was no longer prepared to fund the group because of “ongoing concerns” relating to “significant deficits” in the governance of the group: “These deficits give rise to concerns which are of such a serious nature that the HSE no longer has the confidence in the governance of Positive Action and its ability to manage public funding in a responsible and appropriate manner.”

The Irish Examiner has seen correspondence from 2013 where the HSE raises concerns about the use of €15,000 in public funds to pay for up to four committee members of Positive Action to attend an international conference in Boston in 2012.

The HSE argued such conferences were intended for clinicians and academics. Positive Action claimed they were “the only arena where we can obtain non-biased information” and where experts from around the world present the most recent advances in liver treatment and transplant.

The HSE also raised concerns about the number of members’ weekends held away each year. Positive Action sought a budget of €124,000 for members’ weekends, workshops and meetings in 2013.

The HSE said it was prepared to fund one weekend at a cost of €20,000 and that expenditure incurred “should not include costs relating to alcohol, band hire, gifts, tips, etc”.

Positive Action said without four such weekends a year, members would be left “more vulnerable and more isolated” and “without peer support and socialisation in an environment where stigma is not an issue”.

A judicial review followed the group’s resistance in 2012 to the HSE’s attempts to switch them from a bespoke model of funding to a standard agreement. The judge ruled in the HSE’s favour.

In January, the HSE appointed an administrator to review the group and last month they wrote to Positive Action outlining a series of concerns including:

* Poor corporate governance resulting in lack of control and effective oversight by board of directors.

* Inappropriate and extravagant expenditure of public funds.

* A disregard for the disbursement of public funds.

Such were the concerns that funding has been pulled even before the HSE receives the final audit report.

Positive Action was set up 20 years ago to support women who contracted hepatitis C after receiving contaminated anti-D human immunoglobulin from the Blood Transfusion Service Board. More than 1,000 women were infected. Positive Action was unavailable for comment last night.

The HSE said it would continue to provide all Health Amendment Act cardholders “with every assistance possible in ensuring their healthcare needs are met into the future”.