A whistleblower who raised concerns about Covid-19 in a care home run by a health authority in 2020 is speaking publicly for the first time at an event calling for a public inquiry into the handling of the virus in Irish care homes.
Margo Hannon is speaking at a conference at Dublin City University – hosted by Care Champions – the representative group of people whose family members have died in care homes during the pandemic.
Ms Hannon will say that she has witnessed violations of HSE infection prevention and control guidelines, failure to meet clear and established guidelines for Covid-19 HSE/HPSC risk assessment and national standards for health information and quality authority during the first wave of the epidemic.
Over 20 Covid-related deaths occurred at St Mary’s Park Hospital during the first wave of the pandemic.
Following a proprietary disclosure by the whistleblower, the HSE commissioned a two-year investigation by Acrux Consultancy to investigate her claims.
The Acrux team met Ms Hannon, the family of the deceased residents and hospital staff as part of the investigation, which focused on events during the first wave of Covid-19 over a three-week period.
The report is believed to be over 500 pages long and broken into 12 topics.
It is understood that it does not contain clinical evaluations.
Regarding calls for a public inquiry, the health ministry said the Taoiseach had indicated that a comprehensive assessment of the country’s handling of Covid-19 would be conducted in 2023.
In a statement, the department said the assessment will provide an opportunity to learn lessons from our experiences dealing with a pandemic and help ensure we are in a better and stronger position when another pandemic or other type strikes. similar emergency.
It was also noted that Health Secretary Stephen Donnelly has previously said he believes a review of the management and impact of Covid-19 in care homes is warranted and has urged the health department to review the options available for a review of that. implementation. taking into account the experiences and lessons learned from other review processes conducted in recent years.
“Given the recent commitments to establish a process in 2023, it is believed that any review of the experience in nursing homes should be considered in the first instance as part of this proposed process,” the department said, reports RTE.
“The model for this process is under consideration,” reports RTE.
Tell us your thoughts in the Facebook post and share this with your friends.