Eleven doctors at Killarney Community Hospital say they were misrepresented by a Southern Health Board report on the treatment of patients at the hospital.
The report, by an investigator appointed by the Southern Health Board, which runs the hospital, said there were difficulties in validating a number of complaints because of "the absence of any documentation by the medical officers in the medical records pertaining to the admission, treatment and discharge of patients". The report also criticised an absence of nursing records.
The investigator, Ms Noreen Spillane, a director of nursing with the Mid Western Health Board, did not suggest the medical officers were responsible for the absence of documentation, and she noted that "currently all records of this nature are held by the medical officers in their surgeries".
However, in a statement yesterday, the 11 doctors who act as medical officers at the hospital said they were "gravely concerned by the misrepresentations contained in this report".
They said they wished to point out that as medical officers they maintained appropriate and relevant records on their patients in the hospital. Furthermore, these records are immediately accessible within the hospital when required for patient care".
The Southern Health Board's chief executive officer, Mr Sean Hurley, said yesterday that he had `received a letter from doctors in Killarney, and would be replying to them in due course.
Ms Spillane's investigation arose from complaints received by the Southern Health Board. She interviewed staff and former patients of the hospital, and families of patients, concerning matters going back to the 1980s.
In the 29 lines of findings in her report she revealed that patients were "toileted" in the dayroom; that the administration of drugs did not meet the guidelines laid down by An Bord Altranais, the nursing board; that the way in which non-nursing staff responded to bleeps was "inappropriate"; and that there was "confusion" about who should perform such tasks as shaving male patients.
Patients and relatives had complained about a number of issues, including the administration of a sleeping tablet to a patient against his will and refusal to help a patient to go to the toilet.
Following criticism of the brevity of Ms Spillane's report, Mr Hurley recently issued a statement insisting that "the report issued to the media is the full report I received from Ms Noreen Spillane".
Asked yesterday if she could confirm that this was the case, Ms Spillane declined to comment.