The controversial Hanly report on hospital reorganisation, which threatened accident and emergency services at smaller hospitals, now looks likely to be permanently shelved. Eithne Donnellan, Health Correspondent, reports.
The Tánaiste and Minister for Health, Ms Harney, is due to meet the businessman Mr David Hanly, who chaired the group which drew up the report, next Monday.
She is expected to tell him his services are no longer required over hospital reorganisation.
His report, which caused a storm of controversy in smaller towns across the State where some services at local hospitals were threatened, was published in 2003.
Its initial recommendations were to be piloted in two health board regions: the mid-west and east coast area health boards. This did not happen, however, due to industrial action by hospital consultants over the introduction of a new way of insuring their practices.
After much controversy, the then minister for health, Mr Micheál Martin, said last year the report should be used as a template rather than a bible for change.
Local hospital action groups threatened to run anti-Hanly candidates in the next election.
At the same time as the recommendations were to have been piloted in the two regions, a group chaired by Mr Hanly was due to draw up a blueprint for hospital reorganisation in all other regions.
That group has never been able to meet, however, again because of industrial action by hospital consultants.
Yesterday the Irish Medical Times reported that Mr Hanly would shortly be told by Ms Harney that his services were no longer needed over the reconfiguring of hospitals and that the acute hospital review group, due to draw up Hanly II, would be dissolved. It said the move was part of the handover of responsibility for implementing change to the new Health Service Executive and its National Hospitals Office.
A spokesman for the Department of Health confirmed yesterday that Ms Harney would meet Mr Hanly on Monday but refused to comment on whether his contract would be renewed or whether the Hanly II group would be disbanded.
Three weeks ago when it emerged that Mr Hanly's contract had not been renewed so far this year, the Department said it was "on hold" pending the resolution of the dispute on medical indemnity with hospital consultants.
It also said Hanly II had been delayed rather than abandoned.
Ms Harney is on record as saying she wants action rather than more reports, and wants to beef up rather than downgrade accident and emergency services.