THE HEALTH Service Executive acted illegally by cashing an elderly woman’s pension book at a Carlow post office for six years without having authority to do so, the Ombudsman has found.
Its action has been the subject of a Garda investigation and a file on the matter is now with the DPP.
The woman, who at her family’s request remains anonymous, suffered from Alzheimer’s disease and was a resident at the HSE-run Sacred Heart Hospital in Carlow from April 2001 up to the time of her death in November 2007.
Charges in respect of her care in the home, which had been unlawfully deducted like in the case of many other older people up to December 2004, were refunded under the national Health Repayments Scheme. However, the home continued to cash her pension book – which she only had by virtue of her husband’s pension entitlements – without applying to the Department of Social and Family Affairs to be her agent between July 2005 and November 2007. This meant it did not have “legal authority” to cash it, the report of the investigation carried out by Ombudsman Emily O’Reilly, which has been seen by The Irish Times, states.
The HSE claimed it was “a once-off isolated incident which arose as a result of human error”. When the Ombudsman’s office questioned if there could be other similar cases, the HSE said it carried out a survey of practices in most other parts of the country and no similar errors were found.
Ultimately, after the Ombudsman’s investigation began, the HSE agreed to refund the woman’s family the sum which had been taken illegally after cashing her pension book between 2005 and 2007. This amounted to just over €10,000. It also apologised.
The Ombudsman’s report says: “While the HSE appears to represent this as simply a technical breach, this is to understate the unacceptability of its actions. Furthermore, the HSE showed great reluctance in accepting the consequences of having acted without legal authority; its decision to refund the charges collected illegally came only in July 2009, almost two years after” the family of the woman first complained.
The family of the woman had further complained she should never have been charged in the first place for nursing home care as she had no income in her own right. She only had what was called a qualified adult allowance (QAA) which her husband as a pensioner got for her and which was his to maintain her. He told the investigation the nursing home asked him to get this QAA paid by way of a separate pension book and to hand the book into the home. He did this and this was the book which was subsequently cashed illegally.
“The splitting of the pension into two separate payments happened because Mr X, it would seem, was not properly advised by the Sacred Heart Hospital,” the report states.
The HSE argued it had got the advice of senior counsel to the effect that it was correct in determining that the woman’s QAA was her own income for the purposes of paying nursing home charges. But the Ombudsman in her recent ruling said it appeared the legal adviser was not aware of the precise circumstances of this case when offering that advice. Ms O’Reilly said the HSE’s failure to advise the family she was not liable for inpatient charges given she had no income of her own reflected “negligence and carelessness on the part of the HSE”. Cashing her pension book without lawful authority also reflected “negligence and carelessness”.
She recommended the HSE pay the woman’s son €1,000 compensation in recognition of the costs he incurred in pursuing his complaint. This son said yesterday he wished to highlight the findings in case any other family had unknowingly been similarly affected.