The Health Service Executive (HSE) has received an extremely negative review from the Ombudsman Emily O’Reilly in the annual report of the Office of the Ombudsman. The primary accusations are that the HSE has a culture of secrecy and acts in its own self-interest.
Over a quarter of all complaints to the Ombudsman in Ireland were related to the HSE and the services provided by the HSE. The Ombudsman noted extreme difficulty accessing medical and administrative records held by the HSE. Given the Ombudsman’s legal right to demand such documentation, it highlights the problems that ordinary people can experience obtaining information for hospital negligence claims and medical negligence claims, even with the help of a solicitor.
One particular investigation by the Ombudsman was described as an “Alice in Wonderland trip” around the legal system.
The Ombudsman characterised the HSE as “a body that looks not to the public interest, which is the only reason it’s there, and seeks at times to protect its own interests” and went as far as to say that “it’s as if the HSE lives in a parallel universe”. Indeed, The Ombudsman described some cases as “shocking and unacceptable”.
HSE chief executive Professor Brendan Drumm has responded that the allegation that the HSE is “rotten to the core” amounted to an “unfortunate use of language”.