International group to monitor hospital

The Department of Health has established an international “oversight group” to ensure the recommendations of the damning Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) investigation into Tallaght Hospital are implemented.

Hiqa launched the probe after a 65-year-old man died in the facility’s emergency department in March last year, resulting in a leading coroner describing the unit as “a dangerous place for anybody”.

Its investigation found major failings, including that some patients were waiting in the emergency department for 61 hours, four out of five patients who were admitted were put on corridor trolleys and one in seven emergency department patients in the first six months of 2011 left without being treated.