The Health Information and Quality Authority said today it remains seriously concerned about patient safety at Tallaght hospital in Dublin.
The authority said the Health Service Executive’s role in supporting and monitoring the provision of safe services at the hospital is to be looked at as part of a new statutory investigation.
In a statement outlining the terms of reference for its investigation into the hospital's emergency department, which was announced last Saturday, it said it would also focus on the role of the hospital's board in managing risk in the department and at the hospital, as well as how it was supported in doing so by the HSE.
The authority said it has had ongoing concerns in relation to the quality and safety of the care provided to patients requiring acute admission to the hospital. It said it had previously sought assurances in relation to how the board and executive of the hospital were managing these risks.
"Following a recent patient safety event, the authority continues not to be assured that the hospital is effectively managing the risks to patients requiring acute admission to the hospital and who receive initial care in the emergency department and believes that this poses a serious risk to these types of patients," it said.
Details of this recent patient safety incident were outlined at an inquest last week into the death of Thomas Walsh (65) of Elmcastle Park, Kilnamanagh, Tallaght, who died at the hospital on March 2nd while in a “virtual ward" or corridor awaiting a bed.
The Dublin county coroner Dr Kieran Geraghty, after hearing the case, said Tallaght hospital sounded like a "very dangerous" place.
A consultant working in the hospital's emergency department, Dr James Gray, told the inquest he and his colleagues had complained about the conditions to Hiqa, the Human Rights Commission, the HSE and the Medical Council, but overcrowding was still continuing.
At the weekend, the hospital said it would co-operate with the investigation but reiterated it was funded to look after 350,000 people but in reality looked after 500,000, making it "the busiest hospital in the country".
Hiqa will assess the quality, safety, governance and timeliness of the system and process of care for patients requiring acute admission into the hospital "with a particular focus on the patient journey from initial assessment, through admission to discharge".
Specific patient cases, where the investigation team deems appropriate, will be looked at.
The names of those on the investigation team will be announced shortly.