Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We will note that request straightaway.

No. 1513 is correspondence received from the State Claims Agency on non-cervical cancer screening. It is an old letter that was received in August. As we have discussed it, we will note and publish it. According to the schedule, it was held over.

No. 1526 is correspondence received from Mr. Ray Mitchell of the HSE providing follow-up information. There is so much in it that I will deal with the items one by one. We will note and publish the correspondence today. It is a voluminous document and I want people to be aware of what is contained in it. I will give a quick outline. At a meeting of the Committee of Public Accounts on 5 July we asked a series of questions to which we have now received written responses. Members should feel free to come back in on them. We could spend a day on this issue, but we will note and publish the correspondence and people can respond to it. I want them to know the issues about which we asked and on which we have received information. They include the cost variation by staff type and the reason agency staff cannot be recruited into the HSE. I will not get into the responses. I am letting people know that the responses contained in the letter will be published.

There is a response to the Hannaway report on HSE properties. Following completion of the Deloitte report on Government arrangements for section 38 and 39 agencies, the letter also includes a breakdown of how each agency was rated. Deloitte stated it was expected that the report would be finished in October 2018, at which stage, it would compile a composite report on the external reviews. We will ask the HSE for a copy as soon as it is available.

There is a note providing up-to-date information on community health organisation 4, about which somebody asked individually. There is also a note on psychiatric services in the south east and bed management and overcrowding in St. Luke's General Hospital in Kilkenny.

The next question we asked concerned the contract entered into with Deloitte to conduct the review. There is a note included on the matter. We also asked about the staffing of the national compliance unit, which is relatively new. There was a staff complement of 12.

There is a note on the number of planned and random audits in HSE agencies in 2018 to date. There were 11 planned audits and three random audits up to the date of receipt of the letter.

The next issue is important in the context of our ongoing work. We asked for a note on the introduction of a mandatory system of retraining and supervision following legal settlements without an admission of liability. It is very much what we are talking about today, that is, medical negligence, which will probably be the subject of a report of the committee in the spring. The first sentence states there is no mandatory retraining and supervision following legal settlements without an admission of liability, although retraining and supervision takes place. Enough has been said for now. It is what we all suspected and has been confirmed in writing.

The correspondence includes a note on the different categories of consultant in non-specialist positions who are not on the specialist register. There is a note on the process in respect of the cath lab at University Hospital Waterford.

There is a note on the assessment of needs and the provision of healthcare and plans to take steps to address the issue. Detailed information is given on a region by region basis. There is a detailed breakdown of the €50 million inpatient transport costs by area, including a breakdown of the type of transport used, including taxis, minibuses, private ambulances or other means.

There is a note on whether matters related to procurement compliance were included in the risk register. There is also a note on the section 38 and 39 agencies that have submitted their accounts. Last year 100% of accounts were submitted.

There is a note on whether matters associated with CervicalCheck were placed on the risk register in previous years. We know that they were not. That is something that will come up in discussions on medical negligence. There is a detailed history of the audit related to CervicalCheck with which we are dealing on an ongoing basis.

Then there is a note on the number of protected disclosures made to the HSE. It is indicated that 78 were received in 2017 and there is breakdown of the categories of those on page 20 of this 26-page letter. There is a note on the provision of a cardiac cath lab laboratory in Sligo; the figures and trends regarding moneys owed by health insurance companies, which is in the order of €300 million at the end of each calendar year to which we can come back; the different categories of agency staff; and the contract awarded to the private operator in Mount Carmel. I am reading out all these headings because people forget the volume of work we cover. I am not reading to members the responses. There are notes on the sale of a property in respect of Our Lady's Hospice, Harold's Cross, which is the subject to a Garda investigation and is an item on our correspondence list; the position regarding high-risk dental treatment patients; the number of unfilled posts in the HSE; the prompt payment interest and compensation paid during the course of the year; and the patient private property retained interest and where the money goes. We will not discuss the entire detail of this, Deputy Cullinane. I have given a sample of the 29 detailed questions we asked on the day. The responses are now on the public record, and they contain a lot of information. If members want to come back next week on any aspect of this or use this information, they should feel free to do so. They may choose to use it in any event because it is public now.