Hospice services dogged by years of staff in-fighting

THE board of Galway Hospice has expressed its “utter frustration” at the latest disruption to services at the facility, which has been dogged by staff rows over the past three years.

The 12-bed facility has stopped taking new admissions since last week after the consultant in palliative care medicine, Dr Dympna Waldron, ceased providing specialist cover.

It followed the lodging of a collective bullying complaint against Dr Waldron by 22 of the 26 nursing staff at the hospice last month.

The allegations form the latest incident in a bitter row which has resulted in serious disruption to normal services at the hospice since 2002.

In August 2004, the hospice began to re-admit in-patients following a 17-month period after a series of allegations and counter-allegations between Dr Waldron and other medical staff.

Galway Hospice confirmed yesterday that, based on legal advice, it had recently asked the Health Service Executive to re-assign Dr Waldron pending the outcome of an investigation into the allegations.

The HSE Western Area (formerly the Western Health Board) has been criticised by a number of parties including the Labour Court for delays in investigating allegations of bullying against Dr Waldron.

Despite receiving such a complaint from a former nurse at the hospice three years ago, the HSE still has to publish its report on the matter. A HSE spokesperson yesterday said the report was being written although she declined to explain the reason for the delay.

In 2003, admissions to the hospice were cancelled after Dr Waldron complained about mistakes in the administration of medicines to patients. She identified 17 “serious life-threatening errors” involving patients.

An independent review of concerns raised by Dr Waldron also criticised administrative and management procedures at the hospice.

A statement issued by the board of the hospice yesterday expressed frustration at its unsuccessful attempts to have the HSE take effective action to address long-running problems at the centre.

It also admitted the withdrawal of consultant services had led to a gradual reduction in the number of in-patients at the hospice and an absence of new referrals over the past week.

However, it stressed that the hospice’s home-care team continued to provide care for almost 120 patients with support from GPs.

The hospice has asked Health Minister Mary Harney to intervene.

“The people of Galway who made this excellent facility possible and who continue to support it unstintingly, deserve nothing less,” read the statement.

Timeline

October 1999 - Galway Hospice formally opens a decade after it was first planned and two years after it takes in its first patients.

April 2002 - Allegations of bullying against hospice consultant Dr Dympna Waldron are made to the Western Health Board.

May 2003 - New admissions to hospice suspended after errors in the administration of medicines to four patients.

July 2003 - Independent review of administrative procedures ordered after Dr Waldron identifies 17 “serious life-threatening errors” at the hospice.

February 2004 - Labour Court criticises WHB for its delay in investigating complaints of bullying against Dr Waldron by a nurse.

March 2004 - Results of independent review highlights series of life-threatening errors at the hospice, including two patients who were given over 10 times the recommended dose of medicine.

April 2004 - WHB admits it has still not interviewed any witnesses in claims of bullying against Dr Waldron.

August 2004 - Hospice re-admits in-patients for the first time in 17 months as Dr Waldron returns to work.

March 2005 - 22 out of 26 nursing staff at the hospice lodge fresh claims of bullying against Dr Waldron.

April 2005 - All specialist cover provided by Dr Waldron from the hospice’s in-patient services is withdrawn.