'No conflict of interest' for HSE West director

HSE WEST’S clinical director, Dr David O’Keeffe, said he was happy that there was “no conflict of interest” between his public and private practice roles, an issue which was dealt with at the “highest level” in the HSE prior to his appointment.

Dr O’Keeffe was responding to a Labour councillor’s demand that he should “consider his position” in relation to association with a private MRI imaging centre providing services to Galway University Hospitals (GUH).

Cllr Colm Keaveney, a member of the HSE West regional health forum, a Siptu trade union official and a Labour Party candidate for Galway East, has been critical of Dr O’Keeffe’s association with a private MRI imaging centre that has an agreement with the HSE to provide services to GUH.

Cllr Keaveney’s concern focuses on an MRI located at GUH’s Merlin Park hospital, which was installed in 2008.

Prior to its installation, a CT scanner was installed at the same location by a group of radiologists working between the two hospitals in 2003 to serve both public and private orthopaedic and respiratory patients, among others, at the second public hospital in the city.

At the time, existing equipment at University Hospital Galway was in such demand that outpatient waiting lists were growing. The Merlin Park equipment was paid for by the radiologists, who drew up an agreement with the health board to provide a number of free scans for public patients annually, in addition to paying rent on the premises.

Dr O’Keeffe, who was one of the parties to the agreement, withdrew from a role in the management of the Merlin Park facility prior to his appointment as clinical director for acute services and continuing care in Galway and Roscommon in June, 2010.

In a statement, HSE West confirmed to The Irish Timesthat Dr O'Keeffe had "made a declaration in regard to private practice interests relating to the Merlin Park imaging centre and continuing practice at the Bon Secours Hospital, Galway".

“Dr O’Keeffe holds a B* contract, which specifically permits practice outside of the aggregate 37-hour weekly HSE commitment,” it said.

“The 37-hour period is fully assigned to the role of clinical director. Dr O’Keeffe has a requirement to continue in clinical radiology practice to meet the requirements of the Medical Council. He maintains a clinical service commitment of two three-hour sessions per week,” it said.

These sessions are with private patients at the Bon Secours, and with a mixture of public and private patients at the Merlin Park imaging centre.

HSE West said Dr O’Keeffe held “no official role” in the management of the Merlin Park centre, where his function as a consultant radiologist involved “supervising and interpreting scans for public and private patients”.

“From the outset of Dr O’Keeffe’s appointment, a mechanism was put in place by the HSE to remove Dr O’Keeffe or Galway University Hospital from the award of any contract for referral of patients to Merlin Park imaging centre to avoid any conflict of interest,” it said, adding that he was also compliant with the Ethics in Public Office Acts 1995 and 2001.

HSE West regional health forum chairman and Fine Gael councillor Padraig Conneely said he believed there needed to be full disclosure on the issue, for the sake of Dr O’Keeffe, the forum members and the public. Galway has one fully public MRI scanner, and three private scanners, and long waiting lists for scans.