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.