Varadkar told Tallaght hospital to look into whistleblower claims

Minister for Health Leo Varadkar instructed Tallaght Hospital to investigate allegations of intimidation of a whistleblowing doctor advocating for patients in the hospital's overcrowded emergency department.

Mr Varadkar wrote to the hospital last December seeking the investigation after hearing details of the allegations made by emergency department consultant Jean O’Sullivan.

Dr O’Sullivan first wrote to the Minister in September 2014, frustrated at the lack of progress by the hospital in investigating allegations of intimidation and obstruction she made over three years earlier.

She originally asked the hospital to take action in November 2011, but no investigation started until after Mr Varadkar intervened.

A preliminary scoping exercise has established there are grounds for a full investigation, which is expected to proceed shortly.

Anxious to proceed

The Minister, in a letter to Dr O’Sullivan last December 15th, said he was anxious for the investigation of alleged whistleblower intimidation requested by the consultant to proceed.

He wrote on the same date to Michael Scanlan, chairman of the Tallaght hospital board, calling for "this important matter" to be dealt with.

“Dr O’Sullivan has alleged that she has been the subject of intimidation in response to her advocacy on behalf of patients in the ED department and that, despite her request that an investigation of this mater take place, the hospital has failed to fully investigate the matter.

“I am anxious that any such allegations of intimidation are properly investigated.”

Asked what action it had taken in response to the Minister’s intervention, a hospital spokesman said the issue pre-dated the current chief executive and board. “The hospital is dealing with a specific complaint through an agreed channel and in accordance with established protocols in place to handle such matters,” he said.

Dr O’Sullivan alleges management tried to gag her after she made repeated internal criticisms of overcrowding in the emergency department.

‘Worse than Malawi’

On one occasion in 2011, shortly after she returned from working in Africa, she described the conditions in the department as “worse than Malawi”. She was told to retract the statement, she says, but refused.

The hospital spokesman declined to comment on the detail of Dr O’Sullivan’s allegations.

Dr O’Sullivan also clashed publicly with hospital representatives at an inquest held in 2011 into the death of a patient in Tallaght. She engaged her own barrister for the inquest after being told her statement was not acceptable to the hospital.

Tallaght hospital has been at the centre of controversy over the past week since it emerged a 91-year-old patient spent 29 hours on a trolley in the emergency department. The hospital has since ordered an internal review into the leaking of the patient’s details to the media.

Another consultant in the department, Dr James Gray, has alleged intimidation for speaking out against overcrowding.

Under pressure

Dr Gray says he was put under pressure to drop giving key evidence to an inquest into the death of a patient at the hospital in 2011.

Ms O’Sullivan said taxpayers were losing patience with an “inept” taskforce being formed and reformed to deal with the trolley crisis.

The 1 million people who use emergency departments each year need to become “the loudest voice” in the next election, she told The Irish Times.

The medical board at Tallaght, whose membership includes all hospital consultants, was due to meet last night (Monday) to discuss the adverse publicity the hospital has received over the past week.

Mr Varadkar spoke directly to another of the ED consultants in the hospital, Jason Carty, at the weekend, it is understood.