The Southern Health Board has been urged to set up procedures to establish the next-of-kin of patients admitted to its hospitals after it emerged the board currently holds more than £300,000 in dormant accounts belonging to deceased patients. The call came from a member of the board, ail TD, Mr Batt O'Keeffe, a Fianna Fail TD, who said it seemed inexplicable that people would be admitted to hospital without their next-of-kin being identified. Arrangements to deal with the money should be made when people are admitted, he said.
The health board finance officer, Ms Raymonde O'Sullivan, said many of the people involved had lost contact with their next-of-kin though the SHB made every reasonable effort to try and trace them in the event of the patient dying.
There were quite a number of accounts involved, some dating back 15 to 20 years. The SHB had no legal right to the money but if it could prove the patient had no relations, the money would revert to the Minister for Finance, she said.
However, proving there were no relations can be quite difficult and funds usually remained frozen until relatives came forward, Ms O'Sullivan said, adding that the board did not charge a maintenance fee for the account.
The Department of Health is currently setting up a working group to look at a number of issues and Ms O'Sullivan said she expected the question of dormant accounts would be examined by the group. It was quite a complex legal area, she stressed.