A meeting of the Cabinet committee on health has heard that the unpublished Children’s Health Ireland report is to be referred to An Garda Síochána by the Health Service Executive.
It is understood the meeting was attended by Taoiseach Micheál Martin, Tánaiste Simon Harris and Health Minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill and others.
The HSE has also indicated it may refer a consultant to the Medical Council because of issues raised in the internal review of the CHI if that action is not taken by the hospital group, the Irish Times reports.
The 112-page CHI report concluded that: “A root and branch review of all access and waiting list initiatives, to include NTPF [National Treatment Purchase Fund] and referral management, should be undertaken.
“This should incorporate a review of governance structures and processes for approval and sign off, thus maximising patient’s timely access to care, ensuring a fair and equitable service for all.”
The report, which has been seen by RTÉ, said that children waiting the longest were “not seen at these NTPF clinics” and that “there were 45 children who required surgery but did not receive an [appointment] date and instead were placed back on one consultant’s inpatient waiting list, which has a significant wait time”.
“Placing these patients on a specific consultant’s inpatient waiting list when it was known there were alternative options which would have ensured these patients could have been operated on sooner, appears not to be in the best interest of the child, and the specifics of each case warrant further examination.
“These patients could have been accommodated in a general surgery outpatient clinic during normal working hours, without the need for NTPF funding,” it said.
It added: “The time slot afforded to each NTPF patient was 10 minutes. This is less than this consultant’s average outpatient department clinic time slot for new patients.
“Indeed up to 48 patients were seen in the NTPF clinics, where one consultant was working alone, however this consultant’s public clinic is capped at 23 patients, yet there would be at least one registrar supporting.”