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FORMER HSE CHIEF Tony O’Brien has hit out at Health Minister Simon Harris over how he handled the CervicalCheck controversy.
O’Brien stepped down from his position in May, following the fallout of the scandal.
In recent months it has emerged that the results of earlier smear tests of at least 221 women who were subsequently diagnosed with cervical cancer could have been interpreted differently.
Most of these women were not informed about this, raising issues around open disclosure.
In a wide-ranging interview in today’s Sunday Business Post, O’Brien describes Harris as a weak minister who “runs scared of headlines” and behaved like “a frightened little boy” during the CervicalCheck controversy.
O’Brien said he disagreed with Harris’s decision to offer another smear test to every woman in the country, describing this as a “panicked response” as “their original smear tests could be reread”.
“I would have hoped he’d have been able to show more courage in the face of a difficult political and media onslaught. And it is my sincere hope that from this, he will have gained the strength to be courageous in the future,” O’Brien said.
He expressed sympathy with the women caught up in the controversy but accused some people of using the situation for political gain.
“[CervicalCheck] had a very negative effect on top management [in the HSE]. To see themselves and the person who was effectively their leader effectively monstered for political purposes on the back of what was clearly a very significant issue – although not the issue they were saying it was,” he said.
‘Fall from grace’
Harris was defended by his Fine Gael colleague Charlie Flanagan on RTÉ Radio 1′s This Week, who said: “This is Tony O’Brien, head of the HSE, who stepped down following a pretty rapid fall from grace himself when he admitted that his own HSE, which he led, treated the tragedy of the cervical cancer issue as a trainwreck – they’re the words of Tony O’Brien himself…
“I have no doubt, and I sit beside Simon Harris at Cabinet, that he is a very dynamic health minister and that he is very committed. In, for example, cervical cancer, women are coming front and centre to all of the actions that Simon Harris undertakes in that regard.”
In a statement, a spokesperson for Harris said the minister “doesn’t believe in engaging in the politics of personalised attacks” and thinks O’Brien made the right decision in stepping down.
“The CervicalCheck situation was a very difficult time for women in Ireland. They felt let down. The women were and are the minister’s priority.”
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“His own HSE” ? Really ? And who has ultimate responsibility over it ? Because if it’s not the minister for health then just what exactly do we need one for ?
@John Ryan: One of the goals of setting up The HSE was to provide a buffer zone of protection to the line minister and senior civil servants in The Department of Health producing a plentiful supply of sacrificial lambs to fall on the ministers sword in his/her place. The NTA does the same for transport.
@John Ryan: one of the biggest problems with the health service is that when they f**k up the minister/government gets the blame. Not only did they make the mistake with the cervical checks, they also tried to cover it up and to add final insult to injury we had GPs that didn’t bother to pass on the bad news to the victims.
And still we get this crap about Simon Harris. Are we to believe that it would be any different if we had a different Minister fo Health? Of course it wouldn’t. The HSE are a law onto themselves. No respect for the government and no respect for the patient.
@David McShite: The HSE was created to replace the Health Boards (Eastern, Southern and Western) with a single body responsible for the operation and management of the nationwide health system. The minister is responsible for oversight and funding of that system. O’Brien’s criticism of the minister as he attempts the sort out the mess left by the former chief is reprehensible in the extreme because while it was the ministers job to ensure that there was a screening program, it was the HSE chief’s job to ensure it was being done properly.
The former HSE boss who could not manage the organisation calls out the Minister for the Failed Health service. One is as bad as the other. You wouldn’t see it in an episode of Faulty Towers. Hundreds of thousands of euro wasted per year on them.
@David Corrigan: that simple David? Really? Just go and manage the HSE – simple really. Well I have news for you – it isn’t and O Brien was an exceptionally capable individual. Health is worse off without him. Minister and Govt made some awful knee jerk decisions which if asked he would have advised against in the cervical controversy,namely free smears which clogged up the system and commitments to pay compensation and claim back off companies. Crazy stuff.
@Seamus G: Thanks for your input Mr O’Brien.
@David Corrigan: Does not matter how is in charge, the unions have the health system a basket case and it will never change as long as they hold so much power. New laws are needed to prevent them from holding us to ransom then and only then you might see a better service. Its not only health its across the PS, our services are run for the employees with the pay, pensions and perks and out dated work practices which are all important, because of this we are lumbered with close to third world services.
@Peter Hughes: I fully agree with that Peter.
@Peter Hughes: you have hit the nail on the head
@David Corrigan: as a boss who got a good severance and pension , he should shut his sad gob about his previous employers.
Says a lot about his character
@rory conway: your comment says a lot about you. Have you ever heard ‘evil thrives where good people do nothing’…? Thats what has the country the way it is, naive people keeping stum. Everyone should be outing incompetence and corruption. It is only then that we might get change for the better.
@John O’Hara: Spot on John, evil does thrive when people stand idly by doing nothing to combat said evil. It happened in Germany prior to WW2 through conditioning and manipulation by evil doers who excelled at propaganda to fool the German populace and the sad thing is how easily it can be done. Thankfully we have no parties in Ireland with any historic links to national socialism……
@Seamus G: Is that you Tony?
Cannot disagree with O’Brien. Harris looks totally out of his depth. And backed up by flanagan, not much better. We sure can elect ‘em! Incompetent amateur chancers.
@Adrian: out of his depth like his boss Leo no matter what spins he puts out, Eoghan Murphy, Regina Doherty(she’s toxic) and what even has Aul Charlie done, the economy took care of itself these goons have done nothing,
The article reflects worse on O Brien than anyone else – he hope for a return to the days of media deference to senior civil servants and politicians. It’s an odd article, very conflicted man.
Harris needs to step down. He has not been able to address the issues in the HSE. Waiting lists are still high – we need more facilities, more beds and more specialists.
@Seán Ó Briain: Who has? And tell me someone who will???
@Margate: That’s up for the government to appoint whoever they feel is the most qualified. Simon Harris is not that person/
@Seán Ó Briain: Your mistaken if you think FG want to fix it. so kick them out at the next election if your concerned.
Tony O’Brien must have done a fantastic job of it in his own arrogant little head.
@The Dons: They all have but the ultimate responsibility lies with the Minister for Health and it not exactly like they weren’t all warned at the time they decided to outsource that this would go tits up…
@John Ryan: ultimate responsibility, yes but not sole responsibility
Simon Harris should be gone along with Leo. Two people who were involved in the scandal that lead to the deaths of Irish women and should of had the decency amd respect to stand down
How many times has that scrote O Brien been on tv and radio blaming some one else for all the mistakes of the HSE.
@Ian James Burgess: all the mistakes?? you think an organisation which delivers hundreds of thousands of interventions every day without issue shouldn’t make mistakes??
O brien is not telling all,the public would respect him if he blew the whistle,but his silence is bought.
@@mdmak33: won’t you step up to the plate and inform us?
I think harris proves that you could put most people in that job, and they wouldn’t do any worse. Its a total mismatch. He was elected to represent the views of people, yet he’s found himself in a job akin to managing a large organization.
@Adrian: couldn’t have put it better myself.
In reality the minister is a figure head , we have had a few competent ministers, who fully understood how the health system should work, Dr Noel Browne springs to mind as an outstanding minister. If the health minister was a total gombeen the HSE should be able to deliver, they are given more funds than the Dutch health system, which runs very effectivly for a similarsized populationand lower capitation.
The problem is extremely bad corporate governance by the HSE, nobody else.
Who signed off on the layers of recruitment of “Managers and Directors” in the HSE in some kind of a matrix management system, probably under the guidance of IMI or some other guru outfit. All box ticking staff who fail to produce the services that are required by their clients. The buck stopped with Mr O Brien.
HSE: A budget of over 16 billion, staff of 65,000 employed directly and 35,000 indirectly
So who do you put in charge. A senior politician, proven track record, knowledge of business and people management. Someone who can stand up to the mandarins and the likes of O Brien.
Step forward Harris. Never had a real job in his life. Completely out of his depth who proved by taking the job that he was unsuitable.
Proof: Despite a further 700 million added in the budget and deficit funding every year the service is not fit for purpose. More people on trollies than ever and more people on waiting lists.
Slaintecare,10 years to put it right, no easy solutions. Blah blah blah.Seems a nice guy and maybe means well. But would you put him in charge of a nursing home.
The state of the HSE would frighten anyone
O Brien was 100% right about PAC. Without going into the pathetic recent piggish behaviour of the likes of McSharry let’s just analyse the behaviour of the PAC under the Chairmanship of John McGuinness in respect of Rehab.
The PAC dragged in Angela Kerins (who I personally don’t care much for) and questioned her about her salary, car, bonus payments and family. All legitimate questions EXCEPT they were for the directors of the company to answer NOT THE EMPLOYEE. By publicly berating, insulting, interrogating and harassing her in the public glare of the whole country they made her public enemy no 1 and no doubt ruined her life. In a way at the time it was enjoyable seeing her taken down a peg except it was a complete abuse of pwoer and the WRONG way to address the problem and it personally devastated her and her health. PAC would dispute this of course. HOWEVER when it came to the court case the PAC had to hide behind the shield of privelege NOT a defence of what they did was right.
Directors of a comapny make decisions of a company. If the employee manges to screw a ridiculous salary and benefits out of an employer then it is the directors who must answer to this NOT the employee.
I don’t carry any torch for Kerins but this is a perfect example of why Tony O Brien is right about the PAC. Sean Fleming to his credit has always been respectful and tried to keep all sittings respectful but it is not always possible with a couple of absolute gombeens in there who want to grandstand and use public servants as props to make them look good in a popular blood sport called public servant bashing. This is a race to the bottom and only serves to make services worse not better.
O Brien is a huge loss to the service after a couple of poor previous incumbents.
@Seamus G: Well said, the PAC has become a Star Chamber, populated by idiots like McSharry, and profit before people. Natural justice has been eroded by Dail Privilege, eroding rights that should be protected under the constitution.
My Twitter timeline today is full of healthcare professionals giving their support to Tony O’Brien.
I’ll take their word over the word of self-serving politicians or the constantly whining posters on here any day.
We are well rid of such an arrogant man. I don’t agree with most of what happened in relation to the many scandals that have plagued the health service but to resort to name calling only goes to prove the type of culture and organisation that Tony O’Brien was in charge of. Hopefully we can all learn from Vicky and Emma. They have done the state some service, not this guy who ironically enough gets paid for his service.
Notice that Charlie Flanagan’s comments extend to kicking Tony O’Brien, but don’t extend to defending Simon Harris’s panicked handling of the CervicalCheck controversy.
Wait! Wait! But why the HSE man didn’t went public when he learned? It is easy to rewrite history but was he not the first person to learn and therefore the first one to publish eventually with the minister’s help if the others didn’t want? A similar story happened in France around the 90s:the head of the French HSE and the consultants who knew were found responsible and sent to gaol but the minister who learnt the story in the newspapers was found not guilty. I don’t think this Irish scandal is different
Circle the gravy train lads , we are being attacked by one of them that was on it
It was embarrassing until people started dying(which was years before the cervical issue). It’s gone way beyond tragic at this stage.
Well said!!! Wonder was he paid for this interview to go along with his golden handshake! He described his precious HSE’s handling of it as a train wreck? Well he was the driver of that proverbial train! And didn’t give one damn about who was hurt either.. cover up abd collusion, something this Country is an expert in..
We need to have a citizen assembly on the future of health care in Ireland
It. Is a fact that FG/FF have decimated our health service, with their incompetence/cronyism. They had the reins of power over the last number of decades and have proved incapable of providing a decent health service for Irish society. It is not impossible, far from it, other countries have very successful health services i.e. France, Canada, UK etc….
Thousands of innocent Irish men women and children are dying inappropriately ‘every year’ because of FG/FF’s decimation of our health service, and it’s not only rhe health service rhat thay are incompetent at. Their incompetence knows no bounds, yet decent people don’t realise that they are complicit in the deaths of those innocent people, by continuing to vote for those incompetents.
Every time I see Harris on the news I have to look to see is he still in short trousers. The sooner the electorate realize that these incompetent excuses for ministers are not answerable for their total neglect. People are dying every day because of their incompetence. We need experts in these roles not spoilt brats like we have
@Mark Gough: when you have the likes of Varadkar, Coveney Flanagan, Harris, trying to run various departments you know you’re in trouble, Not one of them has a brain, Coveney always talking through his rear end & Varadkar the same, just a bunch of chances playing with taxpayers money
What another “knee jerk” manager/minister? Thought the late Minister Lenihan was “knee jerk” enough for us.
Tony O’ Brien; hang your head in shame and keep your mouth closed. Simom Harris has done so much for the women of Ireland, what have you done?? Bitter and twisted is not a good look.
@Brenda Murray: what has Harris really done for women in Ireland? He is desperately trying to introduce abortion , is that a good deal for anyone ? I would say that he will be looking for a new job inside the next two years, because he will be out on his ear at next election. This winter will see him out, and where will he get employment then?
I think he is clearly out of his depth in a Ministry. Of course the HSE has a lot of negative issues, but its the function of the HSE to take that blame and insulate the Government from criticism. It’s a bit putting mud guards on the bicycle and then complaining that they keep getting dirty. I recall after one controversy Harris saying he was “glad that the HSE apologised”.. I thought that was one if the most cynical political statement I ever read in my life and summed up nicely the main function of the HSE. He is the Minister and the buck should stop with him.. He heads a Department which woefully underperforms and grossly over-spends in doing do so and of course it’s the HSE’s fault and it couldn’t possibly be the Government’s.
Both O’Brien and Harris are ” scared , Silly little Boys”. . Both are people in positions that they are not and never fit to fill . O’Brien was always arrogant and spent most of his time trying to defend the indefensible, poor auld Harris just has no ability and is a silly little wimp who appears to believe that the ordinary man in the street is a fool.
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