Mattie McGrath Warns of HSE Cover-Up, Calls for Accountability
Mattie McGrath criticised the HSE and related bodies for prioritising protection of the system over patient care and called for accountability. He urged ministers to sack the CHI board and said sick children, the elderly and people with autism are suffering.
He told ministers that the HSE and organisations such as Children's Health Island and HICWA have "gobbled themselves up in cover-up and deceit" and are protecting the system and certain individuals rather than serving patients.
He said there is no accountability within the system, called for the CHI board to be removed if they do not step down, and urged ministers to act to ensure justice for those who are ill and vulnerable.
He thanked a deputy who spoke from the heart and recalled his late brother, a paediatrician who cared for children in Africa and who made or took "250 coffins" for buried children, using this story to underline the moral duty to care for the vulnerable.
He described being shocked on a visit to Carmel by the number of senior clinicians, non-clinicians and new managers and titles, saying the organisations now appear self-serving with layers of management he had not met before.
He warned that history will record shame for allowing services for children and people with autism to fail, and stressed that if the State cannot do justice to the most vulnerable then those responsible must be held to account.
Main allegations
He told ministers that the HSE and organisations such as Children's Health Island and HICWA have "gobbled themselves up in cover-up and deceit" and are protecting the system and certain individuals rather than serving patients.
Calls for accountability
He said there is no accountability within the system, called for the CHI board to be removed if they do not step down, and urged ministers to act to ensure justice for those who are ill and vulnerable.
Personal testimony
He thanked a deputy who spoke from the heart and recalled his late brother, a paediatrician who cared for children in Africa and who made or took "250 coffins" for buried children, using this story to underline the moral duty to care for the vulnerable.
Management observations
He described being shocked on a visit to Carmel by the number of senior clinicians, non-clinicians and new managers and titles, saying the organisations now appear self-serving with layers of management he had not met before.
Warnings about legacy
He warned that history will record shame for allowing services for children and people with autism to fail, and stressed that if the State cannot do justice to the most vulnerable then those responsible must be held to account.
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Transcript
And Ministers, Board Ministers, wish you well in your roles. And I also would like to deeply thank Deputy and talk to Brennan for putting away his notes and talking from the heart. And my colleagues here also. And we have to have a heart. We know how to see what's continuing to go on since the set-up of the HSE. It was set up by, I think, Mary Harney, maybe I'm wrong, but to put a buffer between accountability with the government. Full stop. Well, my honest opinion, my late brother was a paediatrician of some way now. And you saw, Ministers, your business, Carmel, the wonderful momentous up there for his work. And he loved to care for children all over the world, especially in Africa. And he couldn't understand how they were being buried in their clothes, in the clay. And his wife told me that he took 250 coffins, little white boxes he made himself, for those children. But humanity, we're here, we're privileged to be here. But if we can't do justice to the most vulnerable and people that are sick, and especially children, what are we here for? When is somebody going to take accountability for this HSE? Children's Health Island, HICWA, you name them all. Well, the biggest, the best thing they're at now, and there are many good people working at these organisations, but as an organisation, they have just gobbled themselves up in cover-up and deceit and protect the system, and protect certain individuals in it. We've seen it too many times. And, Ministers, I wish you went, and I hope you'll be able to do it. And, you know, on your visit to Carmel last week, I was shocked to see the amount of number of senior clinicians, people that were not clinicians, not clinicians, senior managers, and layers of them that I'd never met before, and new names and titles. That's what they said, and self-serving the HSE and CHI, and the board should be gone. If they have the good grace to go, they should be sacked of CHI. But there's no accountability. And sick children are suffering. Elderly are suffering. And also the people with autism. There will be history books written about that, and there'll be shame on all of us here for allowing it to happen, that they don't get their services. Good morning, good. Thank you.