A Cork TD has hit out at revelations that a number of staff supplied to the health services here and in Northern Ireland came through an agency who the Department of Health discovered had falsified references.
Independent Ireland TD, Ken O’Flynn, said that the “latest scandal” which involved HSE staff who “may have been recruited using false international references”, was a case of “one travesty of incompetence after another”.
This morning, the Independent reported that “a warning has been issued by the Department of Health and refers to workers employed through a recruitment company and agency supplying staff across the health service.”
In a letter to the Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa), the patient safety watchdog, the department said it has been advised by colleagues in Northern Ireland of a “matter of concern relating to applicants and staff employed by the agency who had falsified references”.
“The issues which have been identified to us include an international reference from a company that did not exist and references from the UK with fraudulent email addresses and falsified manager names and emails,” the letter, seen by the Irish Independent, said.
In Northern Ireland, the Department of Health, has also asked the agency involved to review all staff that were supplied to the health service in the jurisdiction. A source indicated to the paper that “at least 80” staff “so far” with “the potential for more in the Republic” may have falsified references.
A spokesman for the Department of Health said it is “aware of the issue relating to applicants and staff employed by a recruitment agency who had falsified references”, and “that all major employers of health and social care workers have been informed of the matter and requested that there is appropriate review and action if necessary”.
Deputy O’Flynn said that he “is deeply alarmed by revelations that a warning has been issued by the Department of Health regarding workers employed through a recruitment company supplying staff across the health service that has subsequently been found to include an international reference from a company that did not exist and references from the UK with fraudulent email addresses and falsified manager names and emails.”
“This is breathtaking and absolutely shocking. What on earth is going on, and why has patient safety been compromised to such a degree? It is one travesty of incompetence after another, and it is infuriating.”
“I have already highlighted how dentists that were struck off in the UK and elsewhere are being allowed to operate here, including in Cork, and now we have this potentially devastating scandal to confront. Is it any wonder that public confidence in both Government and our regulatory structures is at an abysmally low ebb?” he said.
“I will be engaging immediately with the Department and the Minister on this issue. We must have confidence that staff in our health systems are properly vetted, and their qualifications substantiated through a rigorous system of checks.”