Head of HSE: Memo related to old case

The head of the HSE has played down the significance of a memo which categorised some hospital patients as “trespassers”, saying it was drawn up in response to a case that arose in 2012.

Addressing the Oireachtas joint health committee quarterly meeting with the HSE and Department of Health, HSE director general Tony O’Brien said the case arose at a “particular hospital relating to a patient whose acute care phase was long completed” but who was refusing to move on.

He said staff at the hospital sought advice and this was the genesis of the document which this week entered the public domain.