THE BOARD of a Drogheda hospital did "Dot act sufficiently" in dealing with allegations of sexual abuse against a consultant, its chief medical officer has admitted.
Mr Finbar Lenihan acknowledged the "deficiencies" of the board of management of Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in dealing with the allegations of sexual misconduct, but said that they had been dealing with an unprecedented situation.
An independent review group, chaired by Dr Miriam Hederman O'Brien, found that there had been complaints against the same consultant dating back to the 1970s, but the hospital management had been unaware of them until recently.
The review group considered these complaints had been dealt with in a manner which would have been regarded as "adequate at that period, although it would not be acceptable today".
Mr Basil Cronin, chief executive officer of the hospital, welcomed the report, describing it as "lair and frank". He confirmed that the board was committed to implementing its recommendations.
A decision on a number of the complaints is awaited from the Director of Public Prosecutions. In all, there are over 50 complaints against the consultant, alleging sexual misconduct between 1971 and 1988. They relate to males aged between 13 and 25.
The review group did not find that the hospital management board had placed patients at risk from potential abuse by the consultant after receiving notice of a complaint from a man known as Mr A.
However, the situation had not been satisfactorily handled when the consultant returned to work. The review group said that restriction on his access to patients should have been clearly set out and enforced by the hospital.
Mr Cronin described the hospital's relationship with the North Eastern Health Board over the allegations as "quite difficult".
Last night, the Minister for Health, Mr Noonan, welcomed the report and said that the Department would support the introduction, on a national basis, of written protocols for dealing with allegations of sexual abuse in hospitals.
The Irish Hospital Consultants' Association also welcomed the recommendations in the report.