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.

It had previously issued a warning on the national scale of the problem.

In its report Hiqa made 76 recommendations which focused on the improvements needed in the hospital and similar hospitals nationally, as well as the changes needed to improve the accountability of the health system by the State and modernise the way in which the health system is run.

Health Minister James Reilly has established an oversight group to oversee the implementation of those recommendations.

The group will be chaired by chief medical officer Dr Tony Holohan and among its other members are Dr Beth Lilja, the director of the Danish Society for Patient Safety and three members of the health system in Britain including Gerry Marr, chief executive of the NHS board headquarters. In addition there are two Irish experts, Deirdre Madden, a senior lecturer in UCC’s Faculty of Law and Dr Fergus Clancy, chairman of the Independent Hospital Association of Ireland.

Dr Reilly said: “Four leading international experts in patient safety and governance have agreed to join this group and support us in this task.”

He said the group will begin its work before the end of June.

Meanwhile, in light of the fallout from the Tallaght report, as well as the establishment of new management arrangements in the West and Mid-West, the Department of Health has also three new appointments to oversee the creation of hospital groups.

Professor John R Higgins, professor of obstetrics and gynaecology at Cork University Maternity Hospital, has been appointed to work with the Special Delivery Unit (SDU) as chairman of a strategic board which will work with the department on the establishment of hospital groups. The department said that as chair, he will have a key role in implementing the plan for creating hospital groups initially and ultimately independent hospital trusts.

Noel Daly, the retired managing director of the Health Partnership, is to chair the Galway Roscommon University Hospital Group, while Professor Niall O’Higgins will chair the Mid-Western Regional Hospital Group.

The term of the appointments is for three years and the department said the boards of the groups will be established initially on a non-statutory basis.