Department ‘knew of legal concerns’

THE Department of Health was “well aware” since 1976 of the legal concerns surrounding long-stay charges but systematically failed to address the issue, the Travers Report has found.

Yesterday’s report found that the department was in possession of a string of legal warnings going back almost 30 years, all of which indicated the charges were illegal.

“These concerns were expressed by legal opinion external to the department, by legal opinion provided to the health boards, by officials within the department itself and, not least, by the department’s own legal advisors,” the report reads.

John Travers also found that the department avoided any opportunity to test the legality of its decision to levy charges while at the same time telling health boards to settle any legal cases brought by patients.

In addition, following the 2001 extension of medical cards to all those over 70, the department failed to even respond when health boards sought legal advice on the charges.

“The department ignored these requests and did not, apparently, make known to the health boards the conclusions the department itself had drawn on the matter,” the report found.

However, on the crucial issue of whether the blame for any failings should fall on political or civil service shoulders, Mr Travers spreads the blame widely.

While the report is critical of politicians for not probing their officials enough, department officials are also condemned for failing to deal with the issue.

The report, which outlines a direct conflict of evidence between former Health Minister Mícheál Martin and former Department of Health secretary general, Michael Kelly, does not judge which version of events is correct.

Nevertheless, Mr Travers concludes that there was no documentation to back up Mr Kelly’s “clear recollection” that he twice told Mr Martin of the issue.

Recommending numerous departmental changes, Mr Travers said there was a big gap between “the potential of the health system to deliver good services and what happens on the ground.”

However, he considers that the department now has a once-off chance to improve the entire system under the Government’s Health Reform Programme.