Serious flaws in recruitment process over doctor’s conduct

A confidential report for the Government on how a doctor came to be employed in four public hospitals despite concerns about his professional conduct has identified serious flaws with medical recruitment procedures.

Dr Omar Hassan Khalafalla was found guilty in January by a Medical Council fitness-to-practise inquiry of 28 counts of poor professional performance and six counts of professional misconduct.

The report found that within days of his first appointment at Midland Regional Hospital in Portlaoise he was taken off on-call duties because of concerns about his performance.

He went on to be employed by three other public hospitals in Mayo, Galway and Meath.

Three references

The HSE report found that University Hospital Galway did not seek a reference from Portlaoise for Dr Hassan, who instead provided three references unrelated to his employment in the midlands.

The report to Minister for Health Leo Varadkar pointed to a lack of centralised recruitment processes for doctors in service posts and the absence of a single human resources system across HSE hospitals.

"A key issue is how hospitals ascertain where a doctor has worked before – in Ireland or outside Ireland – if the doctor does not declare that employment," the report said.

The report said the HSE would work with medical manpower managers to establish a standard policy regarding reference and other checks, including Garda checks for all non-consultant hospital doctors, to ensure the circumstances in the Hassan case did not arise again.