Child’s medicine request from HSE staff member was on back of envelope

HSE staff who assessed a child with a mental health disorder wrote a recommendation for the medication she needed on the back of an envelope — instead of using a HSE letterhead.

Dr John Sheehan, a Cork-based GP, said the child’s mother had presented at his surgery with the recommendation “literally, on the back of a brown envelope”.

“Normally, a letter or fax from the HSE in relation to medication is on HSE-headed notepaper, signed, and dated. This was neither signed nor dated,” he said.