Delay in publishing baby report undermines Ireland’s health watchdog

The “independence” of Ireland’s health watchdog will be permanently undermined if it is prevented from publishing its damning report into baby deaths at Portlaoise Hospital.

Wed, 25 Mar, 2015 - 00:00

Fiachra Ó Cionnaith

Making the claim during leaders questions’, Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin accused Taoiseach Enda Kenny of allowing the HSE to gag the Health Information Quality Authority (Hiqa) in “secret”, behind-closed-doors meetings.

Mr Martin said the watchdog must be supported, as he responded to revelations that the HSE threatened to sue Hiqa if it published its investigation, reported to contain 250 adverse findings.

Mr Kenny said the bodies are “sitting down and working out” disagreements over what the independent investigation found, but Mr Martin said that undermined the entire process.

“I accept the need for fair procedure and due process, but the idea now seems to be emerging that, behind the scenes, the two bodies are going to sit down and ‘work it out’. Work what out? The job of Hiqa is to investigate and come to conclusions.

“Those conclusions may be unpalatable to the HSE, but the full extent and range of those conclusions should not be up for grabs, or ‘sorted out’ behind the scenes.

“Are they [the HSE] going to go through the report conclusion by conclusion? Will the Hiqa report ultimately be fatally undermined by the bilateral process of working it out this way?”

Mr Kenny responded by repeatedly referring to Hiqa’s report as a “draft”, saying the HSE had a right to respond to the allegations before publication.

He said that Health Minister Leo Varadkar had “re-affirmed” Hiqa’s independence in the matter, but he was unable to clarify when the document will be made public.

Fianna Fáil health spokesman Billy Kelleher said the report was at risk of being covered up, and Mr Varadkar must ensure it was published in full.

“The idea the HSE is threatening the publication of the report pending the dilution of the outcomes is simply unacceptable,” he said. “It is the minister who has to step in, has to take ownership of the health service and instruct that this report be published to find out what went wrong and ensure it doesn’t happen again.

“The HSE is threatening to injunct, there is an indication they are not happy with its findings. That’s why it should be published without fear or favour. The idea that covering it up or diluting the recommendations of this report would somehow increase confidence in the health service simply beggars belief.”