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€33 MILLION OF OUT-of-date Covid-19 vaccines had to be scrapped, according to HSE boss Bernard Gloster.
The Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee heard from HSE officials this morning that a further €60 million worth of vaccines which were no longer fit-for-purpose due to changes in health guidance were also left on the shelf.
The HSE’s Chief Clinical Officer Colm Henry said that as Covid-19 mutates somewhat unpredictably, meaning some of the vaccines in stock “were no longer fit for purpose”, he told the committee.
While he said it is true to state that many went beyond the expiry date, it was the updated guidance from NIAC last winter, which pointed towards a new type of variant, which determined the vaccine would no longer be effective.
Unlike other vaccine programmes, where there is some predictability, Henry said. “We’re still getting used to” Covid-19, which he explained is becoming more seasonal.
“We also know, of course, that the vaccine, the effectiveness of vaccine, begins to erode after a number of months,” he added.
The committee was also informed of that the continued storage cost of obsolescent PPE cost €1.7 million last year.
It is understood that thousands of pallets of PPE gear and out-of-date hand gel will now need to be disposed of.
Members were told average storage costs per pallet come it at around €3 per week.
HSE officials said they would rather that the PPE and hand gel isn’t just “tipped” into landfill, stating that investigations thus far into disposal costs come it at around €9.5 million, but that it will have to go to tender.
Options of recycling or ensuring the destruction results in energy credits is also being looked at.
It will be more complicated to destroy the hand gels that cannot be used, given the alcohol content in them, the committee was told.
The HSE has asked a specialist company, which it has a contract with, to see whether the level of alcohol will allow the hand gels to be properly incinerated so that the energy can be recovered.
Gloster said that HSE is open to making savings on such issues, with the HSE stating that they wish to dispose of the PPE and hand gels safely, as soon as possible so as to save on storage costs.
However, disposing of such items will also cost the HSE money, the committee was told.
In addition, the PAC was also told this morning that the HSE has 400 vacant properties on its books.
When questioned by Sinn Féin’s John Brady on the matter, Gloster said that the Office of Public Works (OPW) is aware of the properties, stating that they are spread across the country and are of all shapes and sizes.
Gloster said the HSE is part of a task force looking to bring such properties back into use, stating they are being assessed to see what properties might suitable for housing.
The HSE chief executive said he wanted to assure the committee members that he is eager for them to be transferred and brought back into use, stating the HSE is “not hiding them from anyone”.
The PAC was discussing the HSE’s financial accounts for last year.
Last month, The Journal reported that the health budget for this year is likely to exceed over €1 billion, which will now have an impact on the budget due to be announced next week.
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….is this another incident they will “learn” from?
Accountability HAS to be an election issue.
No no. It’s all ok now. They said sorry. So leave them alone and let them get on with ignoring other kids in their care.
No such thing, Accountability is a dirty word.
As someone who works in the Hse I can tell first hand that complaints upon staff from other staff members is something no one wants to deal with, there are people with many complaints against them with many knowing and seeing first hand they are true yet after the big Hse investigation the people still remain in their post in the exact same roll, I actually had myself transferred to another place to get away from the lack of management and pussy footing around dealing with staff properly best move I ever made
If the HSE is ever to be reformed then the only way to do it is to appoint an independent professional who is assessed and signed off on by ALL parties. This professional is then given the task of reforming the management and running the HSE. They are given a set timeframe and targets. They are then allowed to cull the dead wastage that pervades the HSE on the administration side and use the savings to improve the healthcare side of things. They will have the advantage of not worrying about getting re-elected as their role is to reach their targets and if that means making unpopular decisions then so be it. If they are appointed by an all party committee then none of the usual blame games can erupt as all parties will have made the decision to appoint the person.
The HSE employs 100,000 people and I would bet that you could get rid of 10% of them tomorrow morning and nothing would be disrupted, that’s how useless their roles are.
@Brian Ward
You can blame the Labour party for the lack of radical reform in the Irish health service.
All of the health service unions are responsible for the predicament of the health service, not just the ones that represent administrators. The following article was written by GP Dr Brendan O’Shea.
http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/health/nurses-must-allow-trolleys-on-wards-34351707.html
“I believe the nurses are wrong in trying to frustrate it and there is a sense they are playing silly industrial relations games.
It should be part of any escalation procedures to alleviate the pressure when trolley traffic reaches a certain crisis.
Any attempts to obstruct it are akin to terrorists hiding themselves among unfortunate hostages.
Just like in bus disputes where passengers end up being kicked around, it is now the turn of the patient.
Doctors’ unions are also guilty of this when the occasion arises.”
HSE never apologise and never learn. The incompetence and mismanagement are a disgrace. The government is a disgrace. From personal experience in 2007 in regards to portlaoise.
The wasters at the hse strike again . I wonder do any of these people ly awake at night worrying about the way people are left on trolleys and treated like animals . I think not !!!!!
Senior management have had 30% salary increases since 2012, I’d say that’s all they think about, period.
I know many foster parents who are living saints. The social workers they were assigned were dreadful in general. I mean gobsmackingly awful to the level of being dangerous. That’s why the very few bad foster homes can exist.
How many more similar cases are out there? It truly is shameful. We do have very good people e.g. the social worker and the whistleblower, trying to protect and stand up for such vulnerable people. Let us not lose sight of that.
@Mary Scanlon
I couldn’t agree more. If HSE employees were aware that vulnerable people were at risk and failed to take appropriate action then I hope that they will be crucified.
The public disservice.
Who gets sacked ? Nobody.
Carry on as normal.
Its the irish way….we are too accepting of incompetence from our politicians to our civil servants….never any accountability
Dead right D H. Buck stops nowhere in the Land of Saints and Scholars.
Yet another shameful indictment of the so called ‘establishment in this country. This news predates the HSE so there are many Health Boards, Ministers for Health and others responsible for ignoring what was going. on. The first report was made in 1995 which predates the HSE by 10 years. They are all equally responsible but of course in this country very few have to take responsibility for their actions or are held accountable.
In any other jurisdiction’ heads would roll’ with resignations, removal from posts etc. Apologies are useless and worthless as can be seen by the same ‘mistakes’ being made over and over again. Time for those responsible to be made face the consequences.
In recent times we have had politician after politician tell us how much they care for those who suffer abuse. Yet again their mealy mouthed words are shown up to be hypocritical. Time for them too to walk the walk.
Justine McCarthy wrote about this case for this week’s edition of The Sunday Times.
According to her, the DPP decided not to press charges in relation to five garda files dealing with alleged negligence and abuse in the home and one of the foster parents allegedly committed sexual assault and rape with the use of instruments (the foster father, I assume) is deceased.
I commend the social worker who blew the whistle.
Sadly, some members of staff of the health boards didn’t care about children who were neglected and sexually abused by one or both of their parents, i.e. the Kilkenny and Roscommon incest and McColgan family cases.
In the Roscommon incest case, the members of health board staff who were involved in that case could have appealed against the injunction that the mother had obtained (the evidence of neglect was as clear as a summer’s day) but they didn’t bother.
In the Roscommon case, an ultra right wing Catholic group funded an expensive legal challenge and obrptiained an injunction. The local health Board did not have the legal budget to appeal.
It’s dangerous when extremely well funded religious extremists can use lawyers to frustrate necessary interventions in very serious rape and incest cases. I’m pleased to say that a book is being written about this dreadful scandal, exposing the details but not the identities. The book includes details of the financial funding. Keep the religious extremists out of the social servuces area. Ideology causes terrible problems.
@Fiona deFreyne
The health board could have allocated money to its legal budget to appeal on the grounds of what was then Article 42.5 of the Constitution, which permitted the removal of children from parents if the parents fail in their duty. Given that the health board was supposed to protect the vulnerable, taking legal action to protect the vulnerable should have been a priority.
The health board could have informed the Gardaí of the neglect. Then the Gardaí could have arrested the parents for child neglect and that would have provided grounds for taking the children into care. Child neglect is a criminal offence, you know.
Stop making excuses for health board members of staff who didn’t do their jobs properly.
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