There were 67 valid protected disclosures made to the Health Service Executive last year, of which more than a third related to the alleged “endangerment of health and safety” of patients or service users.
On Friday, the HSE published its 2024 annual report, which found there were 135 protected disclosures received by the executive last year, up 38 per cent when compared with 2023.
A total of 67 disclosures were deemed to be “valid”. Of these, 26 were closed over the 12-month period and 41 are “still under examination”.
More than 80 per cent of disclosures were made by HSE employees, with the remainder coming from Section 38/39 workers who were not HSE employees.
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A total of 37 per cent of disclosures related to the endangerment of health and safety, 15 (22 per cent) related primarily to alleged unlawful or improper use of funds, with a further 15 relating to “oppressive, discriminatory or behaviour that constitutes gross misconduct by a public body”.
The responsible area that had the highest number of disclosures was HSE Dublin and Midlands with 15, followed by HSE Dublin and North East at 12 and HSE Dublin and South East at 10.
According to the annual report, Ireland’s population grew by approximately 100,000 people last year, reaching 5.38 million.
The number of people aged 65 and over has increased by 37 per cent since 2015 and life expectancy now stands at 82.6 years – above the EU average.
As a result of the ageing population, the burden of chronic disease and cancer “remains high, particularly among older adults”.
The report highlighted a number of areas in which services have improved, including a reduction in waiting times for elective procedures as well as fewer people on trolleys.
However, it also acknowledged the provision of disability services as a key challenging area for the health service.
“A major priority for the HSE is to significantly improve access for children and families to services,” the report said.
“There is still much to do to significantly improve access when needed, particularly for children and young people.”
Speaking about the annual report, HSE chief executive Bernard Gloster said last year marked “real progress”.
“We reduced the number of people waiting on trolleys by over 10 per cent, expanded community services and improved access to scheduled care with an additional 24,000 patients seen within target time frames,” he said.
“Our focus in 2025 will be to build on this momentum, improve patient flow and continue to reform how care is delivered across seven days.”
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