MEETINGS:MINISTER FOR Health Mary Harney met the chairman and chief executive of Tallaght hospital in two meetings that took place around the time concerns were first raised about unreported X-rays and unopened GP referral letters at the hospital.
Ms Harney met the chairman of the hospital board, Lyndon MacCann, at his request on April 21st, 2009, according to board minutes seen by The Irish Times.
A day earlier, Tallaght GP and TCD public health specialist Prof Tom O’Dowd had written to Mr MacCann expressing concern over thousands of unopened GP referral letters and unread X-rays at the hospital. His letter was stamped as having been received on April 27th, but Mr MacCann says he only learned of it this week.
Mr MacCann told a board meeting in April that his meeting with the Minister was very positive and “a real sense of engagement was achieved”. He also met HSE chief executive Prof Brendan Drumm on April 23rd.
The minutes do not record what was discussed at these meetings, but earlier minutes show that problems in relation to unanswered GPs’ letters within the hospital were raised at board level as far back as February 2009.
In that month, the assistant deputy chief executive updated members on the process by which the letters were answered.
The former chief executive at the hospital, Michael Lyons, told a meeting in April he would be meeting Ms Harney on May 7th, 2009. A day later, the Health Information Quality Authority (Hiqa) wrote to Mr Lyons requesting a meeting on the issues raised by Prof O’Dowd.
At a board meeting in March, Mr MacCann unveiled plans for a strategic plan for the hospital, saying it could not “spend time reacting to external factors which is negative and reactive” as the hospital needed to be proactive.
