People at Cork University Hospital not working together effectively, says HSE chief

Resumen detallado

Anne O’Connor maintains that staff and others going into the hospital are fearful of conversations being recorded after tape of top-level meeting leaked ...

A point has been reached where people at Cork University Hospital (CUH) are just not working together effectively, HSE chief executive Anne O’Connor has said.

Speaking for the first time publicly following the controversy over the contents of a taped conversation between the top Health Service Executive in the south and senior figures at the hospital, O’Connor said individuals were now fearful about being recorded.

During an interview on RTÉ’s This Week programme on Sunday, she suggested a meeting involving the regional executive officer at HSE South West Andy Phillips and senior figures at CUH in August was recorded illegally.

The Irish Times reported earlier this month that official minutes of the meeting quoted Phillips as telling CUH chief executive Jennifer Kearney he had been instructed by the offices of the Taoiseach and Minister for Health “to have some very specific conversations with you”.

This came after a letter written by Kearney about the impact of recruitment restrictions on patient safety was leaked to the media.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin strongly denied that either he or his staff had ever given any such instruction to Phillips. However, he also appeared to question the official minutes in the Dáil, making reference to “inaccurate and untrue accounts of meetings”.

However, a tape of the meeting, obtained subsequently by The Irish Times, showed that the minutes were accurate in recording what the regional executive officer had said.

Phillips apologised unreservedly for his comments at the meeting and said he had not been contacted by the Taoiseach’s office.

O’Connor on Sunday said she had confidence in Phillips and suggested that his comments at the meeting were made “in a fit of frustration in terms of the discussion that went on that day”.

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