AN INVESTIGATION into bone injuries sustained by 18 patients of psychiatric services in south Tipperary has found no evidence that any of the injuries were caused deliberately.
The Health Service Executive has published an external report into concerns over injuries to patients at St Luke’s Psychiatric Hospital and St Michael’s acute psychiatric unit, both in Clonmel, which found nothing to support a diagnosis of non-accidental injury in any of the cases.
Orthopaedic surgeon Dr John Shanker, who reviewed case files relating to 18 patients who sustained bone injuries while in HSE care, said in each case he found no evidence to suggest the injuries were “non-accidental”.
The report was welcomed by the Psychiatric Nurses’ Association (PNA), which said staff were “completely exonerated” by its findings. The inquiry was caused by concerns first raised in 2004 over the number of bone fractures among patients at the hospitals.
PNA regional secretary John Hughes questioned the delay in publishing the report, which is understood to have been finalised more than two years ago.
“Nursing staff were maligned down the town,” he said last night. “Individuals came to me and said they were being accused of breaking patients’ bones. It was a very difficult time for us.”
The delay was described as “scandalous” by Labour MEP Phil Prendergast. “The staff have suffered terribly by the suppression of that report,” she said. “These people have been living under a cloud of suspicion since the issue of patient injuries first arose in 2004.”
The HSE has decided to close the St Michael’s unit by March of next year, saying the 49-bed facility was “no longer fit for purpose”, despite opposition from consultant psychiatrists and GPs in the area.
Consultant psychiatrist Dr Alan Moore said yesterday the delay in publishing was “part of a pattern of suppressing good news” relating to St Michael’s unit.
In 2004 clinical risk managers raised concerns over the number of fracture injuries among patients in Clonmel, prompting the inquiry by Dr Shanker, who is based at Bradford Royal Infirmary Hospital in England.
The inquiry found that in one case, of a patient who injured her foot by dropping a shower head on it, note-keeping was “quite poor”, with “large gaps between entries to the clinical records” but no evidence the injury was non-accidental.
“I believe that the current process within the South Tipperary Mental Health Services to review serious untoward clinical incidents, close calls, other clinical risks and injuries including fractures is comprehensive, fit for purpose and adequate,” Dr Shanker said.
The HSE’s executive clinical director for mental health services in Carlow-Kilkenny-South Tipperary, Dr Frank Kelly, welcomed the findings. “Independent verification of this fact was hugely important for everyone concerned and the findings of this report, by an independent medical expert, provides significant reassurance to patients, their families and to the staff who work in the service.”