Harney surfaces in Tallaght Hospital row

Embattled Health Minister Mary Harney, who is in the middle of a St Patrick’s Day mission to New Zealand, has said that Tallaght Hospital chiefs gave her assurances no letters remain unopened.

Senior management at the earlier dismissed claims 30,000 GP referral letters were left unopened.

The hospital, already facing a storm of controversy after 57,000 X-rays went unchecked, admitted it moved last October to clear a backlog of 3,498 letters which had not been reviewed by a consultant.

The GP who first drew attention to the X-ray scandal, Professor Tom O’Dowd, claimed his written warnings to management about unopened referrals had been ignored.

“It is completely unacceptable that referral letters from GPs could remain unopened,” said Harney.

“While there are waiting times for outpatient appointments, these should not be prolonged by virtue of GP referral letters not being opened and processed according to clinical requirements.”

Tallaght Hospital admitted a backlog of almost 3,500 referrals on top of the X-ray scandal but insisted: “There was never anything like 30,000 unprocessed letters.”

The delays were first raised last October.

“All of these are now actively being dealt with,” a spokeswoman said.

The spokeswoman added there were currently no unopened GP referral letters in the hospital and staff were focusing on reducing the X-ray backlog.

The Health Service Executive, Tallaght Hospital and the Department of Health have said they will offer appropriate care to any patient whose treatment was delayed by unopened letters.

Fine Gael health spokesman Dr James Reilly described the latest allegations as shameful.

“This as an inhuman betrayal of the patients who these letters represented and conveys utter disdain for their care,” he said.

Dr Reilly called for board members at Tallaght and top management at the hospital and the HSE to appear for questioning before the Oireachtas Health Committee as soon as possible.

The HSE has ordered hospitals around the country to report back on their X-ray procedures after Tallaght admitted the massive backlog.

Watchdogs said they were not told of the scale of the unreported X-rays in Tallaght until January – nine months after it first raised concerns – while Minister Harney admitted she was unaware of the extent of the mammoth trawl until details emerged this week.

Hospital chiefs said two patients – one of whom later died and another who is now undergoing cancer treatment – had their diagnoses delayed as a result of the build-up between 2005 and the end of last year.

The recently-appointed chief executive of the south Dublin hospital, Professor Kevin Conlon, is reviewing the cause of death.

So far more than 1,120 people have called a helpline set up to deal with inquiries about the X-ray backlog.

The Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) said when concerns were first raised by a GP about Tallaght Hospital last April it was told 4,000 X-rays were waiting to be reported on – with the figure reducing in the following months.

However, Professor Conlon reported in January that the backlog had soared to 57,000.

Although extra consultants were drafted in in December to cut the backlog - which is down to less than 22,300 – the remaining X-rays are not expected to be cleared until May.

Minister Harney said every avenue was being explored to ensure the problem would be resolved.

“I have been assured that there is no question of the reading of X-rays being held up now for want of qualified clinicians to read them,” she added.

Senior radiologists have also advised health chiefs of possible reforms allowing attending clinicians to read certain X-rays without the need for follow-up checks by consultants.

Charlie O’Connor, Dublin South West TD for Fianna Fáil, urged the chairman of the hospital’s board Lyndon MacCann to step down in the wake of the unopened letter allegations.

“This is a management issue for Tallaght Hospital. The board of the hospital has failed the patients,” he said.

“The chairman of the board should explain publicly why warnings were ignored and then resign his position.”