HSE blocks minister from 'on-the-ground' meetings with children's disability managers
Nine Jim Seeking Rather Coughlan The Picture: Than Rabbitte: Monthly To Meetings Joint Anne Wrote Progress Managers Individual Disability
The HSE has continuously blocked Disabilities Minister Anne Rabbitte from getting "on-the-ground" updates from staff amid serious concerns about services for children with disabilities.
The HSE told the minister the meetings are “not operationally feasible”.
Ms Rabbitte wrote to each of the nine disability managers seeking individual rather than joint monthly progress meetings with them on what her office has described as "one of the most fundamental changes across the health service in how we deliver care to children".
She has publicly criticised the HSE for "indefensible" 17-month average delays in assessment of needs for children with disabilities.
She is also said to be concerned at significant problems with rollout of the new Progressing Disability Services for Children and Young People programme, which involves a complete reconfiguration of the way services are delivered.
However, just hours after the emails were sent by her office to the regional community healthcare organisations managers on November 8, HSE national director of community operations Yvonne O’Neill wrote to the officers telling them to "respond requesting that these requests for routine/regular meetings be made directly" to her.
In response, the minister's adviser emailed Ms O'Neill asking: "Are you saying that the disability managers in each community healthcare organisation and some of their team cannot free up 45 mins every month to meet the minister?"
In another email, Ms Rabbitte's special adviser said: "To ensure delivery, the minister wants to hear first-hand from the disability managers and their teams about how things are going on the ground."
The email stated that there would be "no extra burden" on the time of managers, only on the minister and her officials.
"If there is a specific regulation the minister is breaking making this request, please let me know. The alternative is the minister ringing the lead agencies and disability managers on an ad hoc monthly basis."
In an email sent to Ms Rabbitte's private secretary two days later, Ms O'Neill said: "I wanted to advise you that these proposed regular monthly meetings are not operationally feasible."
It is understood Ms Rabbitte wanted to move away from joint monthly meetings as there was only time for each manager to skim over specific issues.
Documents issued through Freedom of Information FOI) also show the minister continued to face pushback from senior HSE staff. Another email stated that "we will revert to a joint meeting with all of the community healthcare organisations".
Another email revealed the minister had been quite shocked after it emerged at a meeting with parents in Galway in November that while the assessment teams had been reconfigured, not a single file relating to children with disabilities had been transferred over to the new teams.
"It gives the impression of the HSE not giving a full and true reflection of what is actually happening on the ground. If the HSE is trying to deplete the minister's confidence in their ability to deliver on their commitments, they are doing a very good job," the email written on behalf of Ms Rabbitte stated.
Asked if the HSE had any further comment, a spokesperson on Friday told the that it has a performance and operational management structure and process in place "in which the appropriate engagement by community healthcare organisation
is conducted".