TALLAGHT HOSPITAL has been given two weeks by the State’s independent patient safety authority to produce a plan outlining how it will improve governance, management and clinical service issues.
The plan must be furnished in the next fortnight to the Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa), which will decide whether it is adequate.
Hiqa announced its demand for the plan yesterday following the recent revelation that thousands of X-rays had gone unreported at the hospital between 2005 and 2009 and thousands more GP referral letters at the hospital had been left lying around unprocessed.
Further, the authority has told the hospital it must “disclose openly to the authority any issue of serious concern regarding the quality and safety of services for patients, both currently and on an ongoing basis”.
Hiqa had raised the issue of the backlog of X-rays and GP referral letters with Tallaght hospital a number of times in 2009 and had been led to believe in June 2009 that there were only 4,000 unreported X-rays.
Earlier this month it emerged the true number was almost 58,000.
The unreported X-rays are now being reviewed and to date two patients have been found to have had a delayed diagnosis. One of these patients has died.
Tallaght hospital is also being required by Hiqa to establish a central monitoring function for all serious patient adverse events, complaints, and key performance indicators, and this must be available for inspection by the authority as required.
Meanwhile, Hiqa says it will also be closely monitoring the HSE inquiry into the unreported X-rays and unprocessed GP referral letters at the hospital.
The inquiry is to be chaired by former independent senator Dr Maurice Hayes and terms of reference for the investigation will be announced by HSE chief executive Prof Brendan Drumm at a press conference in Dublin today.
“In relation to the HSE’s review, the authority will establish regular progress reporting mechanisms with the HSE, including immediate notification to the authority should any further patient safety issues be identified,” Hiqa said in a statement.
A spokeswoman for the hospital welcomed “the positive contribution and support” of Hiqa, the HSE and the Department of Health.
“The hospital will actively work with all the agencies to ensure that the highest standards of patient care and safety are maintained,” she said.
The hospital last week announced plans to improve its management systems by putting in place a smaller board of management.
The move followed a report from independent consultants PricewaterhouseCoopers which found “unconvincing leadership at board and management level”.
