Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 1 May 1990

Vol. 398 No. 1

Written Answers. - Dunne versus Holles Street Hospital Case.

Pat Rabbitte

Question:

46 Mr. Rabbitte asked the Minister for Health if, in the light of public disquiet arising from the case of William Dunne Junior vs. Holles Street hospital, he will (1) conduct a full and open review of the entire circumstances of the case, and in particular (a) the reason the hospital did not respond satisfactorily to requests for information by the Dunne family (b) establish the reason the hospital gave apparently inadequate information to the court about its monitoring of two foetal hearts (c) establish the reason the hospital did not provide vital evidence in the case (d) establish the influence of the hospital's insurers on its handling of the case (e) request the Medical Council to conduct a formal investigation of the conduct of the practitioners involved (f) request the Bar Council to investigate the identity of the missing barristers in the case and take appropriate disciplinary action should it be necessary; and (2) consider the establishment of a statutory patients' council which, amongst other things, would operate a mechanism for considering complaints by the public about their treatment by authorities providing health services.

Minister for Health (Dr. O'Hanlon)

It is a matter for the board of management to regulate the affairs of the hospital and if, arising out of this case, any review of policies or procedures is to be carried out it would be the responsibility of the board to do so in the first instance.

However I would wish to say that if the circumstances of this or any other case point to the need for a review of policies or procedures in a particular service it would be dealt with as part of an overall review of the service concerned.

While I am conscious that this was a tragic and very sad case, I am informed that the question of requests for information were dealt with by the hospital in the same way as any other requests where the possibility of legal proceedings in regard to a particular case might be indicated.

In relation to the question of a patient's council the Deputy will recollect that I announced the action plan for the health services on 6 February 1990. The action plan included an initiative on the quality of patient care.

I have asked the chief executive officer of each health board and the secretary/manager of each voluntary hospital to submit proposals on appropriate patient feedback or complaint mechanisms which could be introduced to deal with complaints and to increase communication between the hospital and the patient. These proposals will then be examined by my Department with a view to introducing suitable patient feedback mechanisms in all hospitals.