Danny Healy-Rae: HSE Failed 1,132 Children, Calls for Accountability
Danny Healy-Rae spoke about failures in the HSE's care of young mental health patients, apologising to parents and children who were harmed and saying they had done nothing wrong. He said 1,132 children were affected, criticised HSE leadership and highlighted alarms raised by Dr. Logan and consultant psychiatrist Ankur Sharma.
Apology to families
He began by apologising to the parents and to the boys and girls who were harmed and who were not treated properly by the HSE, stressing that those youngsters and parents did nothing wrong when they sought help.
Scale of the problem
He said 1,132 children were dealt with and were not dealt with properly. He questioned how much longer the situation would have continued without whistleblowers raising concerns.
Whistleblowers and clinical oversight
He credited Dr. Logan and consultant psychiatrist Ankur Sharma with raising the alarm about multiple medications to young mental health patients and argued that the presence of a senior consultant should have prompted closer management oversight.
Criticism of HSE leadership and investigations
He criticized HSE management and singled out Paul Reid for criticism, saying Mr Reid appears to be reading figures on television rather than monitoring frontline services. He noted the Medical Council will prepare a report and questioned whether it might be influenced by the HSE.
Culture of fear among staff
He reported that nurses, carers and GPs are afraid to speak out about inadequacies for fear of ostracism or losing their jobs, and called for that culture to be rooted out. He concluded that the HSE is stumbling from one fiasco to another and needs systemic change.
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I am glad to get the opportunity to entanction Fian. First of all I will start again tonight by apologising to the parents and to those lovely boys and girls who were harmed and who weren't treated properly by the HSE and those youngsters and parents did nothing wrong. I have to reiterate that again. They did nothing absolutely wrong. They went and sought help and they didn't get it. 1,132 children were dealt with and they weren't dealt with properly. And only for Dr. Logan, Dr. Consultant Psychiatrist, Ankur Sharma, who raised the alarm about multiple medications to young mental health patients. How long more would this have gone on for? And you see, one would think when there was only a law, when there was only a senior consultant in place, that management would have more hands on and would be monitoring what was going on. And I say to those people, I even say to Paul Reid, who is suggesting that there will be a criminal investigation. He should include himself. He's getting 480 euros and all that is all what he's doing, is reading out figures in the television every night. Any public relations person could do that. Any public relations person could do that. His job should be to monitor what's going on in the HSE down on the ground to every last thing that's going on there. The Medical Council are going to do up a report. Will their report be influenced by the HSE? I have heard too often from nurses, hand-walking nurses and carers, that they're afraid to open their mouths about anything or any inadequacies in the HSE, in the hospitals or in any of the care facilities. They're afraid to open their mouths. Why? Because they'd be ostracized and maybe lose their jobs and they're still working hard. That's very wrong. And that culture must be rooted out and stopped because that's what's going on. Even GPs are afraid to talk out. And the HSE are stumbling from one fiasco to another. No, no, no.
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