An official investigation into claims of bullying by a palliative care consultant at Galway Hospice and Portiuncula Hospital, Co Galway, has upheld the allegations made by three complainants.
The report by Dr Sean Conroy, assistant chief officer with the Health Service Executive (HSE) West, has found that the Galway Hospice clinical director and palliative care consultant, Dr Dympna Waldron, bullied three members of staff who worked with her and "misconducted herself in relation to her appointment, contrary to her terms of contract".
Dr Conroy says that he will proceed to hear submissions from Dr Waldron and her representatives "before determining what disciplinary action to take".
The Irish Hospital Consultants' Association (IHCA), which represents Dr Waldron, said last night that she was making no comment on the report which is in the hands of her solicitors.
The report was commissioned after the three separate claims of bullying were forwarded to the former Western Health Board - now HSE West - in 2002 and 2003.
The claims were made by former chief executive Mary Derrig, and two nursing staff, Ann Gardiner, clinical nurse specialist at Portiuncula, and Nicola Purcell, clinical nurse manager at Galway Hospice.
Ms Derrig had claimed that Dr Waldron bullied her, her health was affected and that she was ultimately forced to take sick leave in December 2002 and didn't return. Ms Derrig had claimed that Dr Waldron "undermined her authority, demeaned her in front of others, set her impossible tasks, excluded and isolated her, verbally abused her and intimidated her".
Similar claims were made by Ms Gardiner and Ms Purcell, and in all cases Dr Conroy interviewed witnesses. Dr Conroy notes that a 10-month delay in the initial response by Dr Waldron to the bullying claims caused him "considerable concern". He says he dealt with many submissions made by Dr Waldron's representatives, including questions about his legal authority to conduct the investigation. He says that when Dr Waldron submitted four substantial folders of documents to the former health board on July 14th, 2003, none of the submissions appeared to address the specific allegations.
"Further and rather disquietingly, they named and commented adversely on a number of third parties unconnected with my investigation, and thus created potential legal problems," he said. Dr Waldron withdrew the four folders and her subsequent submission was received by him on April 13th, 2004.
Copies of the report have been forwarded to all parties and their legal representatives.
Meanwhile, a recent claim of bullying by the hospice clinical director, which was lodged in March of this year by 22 of the 26 nurses at the 12-bed unit, is still at its initial stages with the HSE West. This recent joint bullying complaint led to the voluntary withdrawal from the hospice by the clinical director, and subsequent withdrawal by all consultants associated with the area.
The hospice, which has four patients, is currently being provided with medical care by a GP-led service, while its homecare team is continuing to work with some 120 patients.