Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The safety incident management report released today into the discovery of 13 possible missed cancers at Wexford General Hospital is another huge failure on a long and botched list of failures in the Wexford-Waterford HSE area. I would go so far as to say that probably two of the most dysfunctional strands of a malfunctioning national organisation are to be found in the HSE in the south east, in particular, in Wexford-Waterford. We have the Grace case and other similar incidents, the six year delay to a satellite dialysis service for Wexford, the removal of acute mental health services in the county with the highest suicide rate in the country, the long waiting lists, and the complete failure to provide an adequate amount of respite and residential care places for children and adults with disabilities. Now we have this too.

For the most part, the report gives a comprehensive outline of what occurred at Wexford Regional Hospital and Ely Hospital, but surprisingly, or unsurprisingly if one is familiar with how the HSE operates, there is an appalling lack of accountability on the part of those who run our health service. The HSE has its scapegoat - human error and a consultant endoscopist it has labelled "Clinician Y". That is where the HSE is happy to wrap up and tie a bow around its investigation. The problem with the human error scapegoat defence is that further questions must be answered. At some stage, Clinician Y was recruited by the HSE as a full-time permanent consultant. He was also on the specialist register of the Irish Medical Council. Nowhere in the report does the management team discuss the recruitment process of Clinician Y. Who recruited this consultant? Who provided references? Where did Clinician Y operate before operating in Wexford General Hospital? If Clinician Y carried out screenings in other hospitals before being recruited to Wexford General Hospital, what checks have been carried out in those hospitals? Has Clinician Y been replaced on a full-time basis?

The lack of accountability in how the HSE operates is shocking. It is not new and it did not start under this Government's watch, but is anyone doing anything about it?

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