Written Answers. - Tallaght Hospital Report.
Nora Owen
Ceist:
99
Mrs. Owen
asked the
Minister for Health and Children
the date his Department received its first draft of the Deloitte & Touche report into Tallaght Hospital; the number of further drafts of the report received prior to its finalisation; the number of meetings, if any, which took place between officials of his Department and the consultants prior to the receipt by his Department of the first draft of the report; the number of these meetings which took place subsequent to receipt of the first draft and prior to completion of the report as published; and if he will clarify the purpose of these meetings.
[1935/99]
Alan Shatter
Ceist:
608
Mr. Shatter
asked the
Minister for Health and Children
the date his Department received its first draft of the Deloitte & Touche report into Tallaght Hospital; the number of further drafts of the report received prior to its finalisation; the number of meetings, if any, which took place between officials of his Department and the consultants prior to the receipt by his Department of the first draft of the report; the number of these meetings which took place subsequent to receipt of the first draft and prior to completion of the report as published; and if he will clarify the purpose of these meetings.
[1990/99]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 99 and 608 together.
Deloitte & Touche provided the Department (and indeed the Hospital) with a number of drafts of sections of the report for purposes of verification of factual information and confirmation of any omissions. This was in line with the policy of Deloitte & Touche to ensure the quality and accuracy of the report.
The first draft was received on 2 November 1998. This was comprised of extracts of different sections of the report.
The sections provided were considered by the relevant divisions in the Department whose staff had been involved in the issues covered by the section e.g. capital expenditure, finance, personnel, information systems/information technology. Some sections proved more difficult than others to provide necessary confirmation e.g. capital expenditure and pay.
Following feedback and review by the consultants, two further revised drafts of the sections of the report were received. The process outlined above was then repeated.
Four meetings took place with the consultants prior to receipt of the first draft. Two of these meetings were held to provide initial briefing on the review and to discuss contractual arrangements. The other two meetings were to establish the format of the review and to provide relevant background material.
Subsequent to receipt of the first draft, five full meetings took place with Deloitte & Touche to provide feedback as required above. In addition, a small number of individual staff members would have hadad-hoc contact with individual consultants working on the report to clarify specific technical or other matters. In addition to the above, Department officials met with Deloitte & Touche on two occasions as part of facilitation group meetings on the report.
The report as published was received on 3 December 1998.
