A REPORT drawn up for the Health Service Executive (HSE) on the reorganisation of acute hospital services in the midwest has not been published because if it were made public before staff were consulted it might never get implemented, Minister for Health Mary Harney said yesterday.
When asked about the failure to publish the review, ordered by the HSE in 2006 and carried out by outside consultants, Ms Harney told the Oireachtas health committee it was important to get "buy-in" from the hospitals involved before the document was published.
She said it had been found in the past that as soon as a report was published all those frightened by it organise against it, and it never saw the light of day, which was not an effective use of resources. The intention in this case was to consult with hospitals and get clinical leadership first on the planned changes.
She said there was already huge buy-in from the four hospitals in the midwest region in relation to the content of the review.
The HSE's chief executive, Prof Brendan Drumm, said a huge effort had been put into consulting with staff. "Maybe at this stage we have done the consulting," he said.
Labour's health spokeswoman Jan O'Sullivan said it seemed the Minister was afraid of the public reaction. She added that Prof Drumm had not consulted with the public on the planned changes.
"You obviously have no faith in democracy," she said.
Prof Drumm said if there was a demand for the report to be published, he would take that on board.
There have been fears in the midwest that the review, when implemented, will lead to a loss of services at Ennis and Nenagh general hospitals, as well as at St John's hospital in Limerick.
Prof Drumm indicated last December that he expected the review to be unveiled early in 2008. However, it was never published.