Second HSE apology for ‘Bridge family

THE HSE has apologised to a Sixmilebridge woman and her family for the second time in recent weeks, this time over a breach of the Data Protection Act.

Dolores Keogh of Castlecrine has expressed her dismay at receiving information about physical restraint carried out on a non-relative patient, who was being treated at the acute psychiatric unit of the Mid-Western Regional Hospital, Ennis.
Mrs Keogh claimed the information contained in the document provides further credence to her recent call for a public inquiry into the treatment provided to her husband, John and other patients at the acute psychiatric unit of Ennis hospital.
The document, which was recently discovered by Mrs Keogh in a bundle of files released following a Freedom of Information request for official records concerning her husband, contained information about physical restraint used on another patient.
It stated that physical restraint had to be used when the patient became threatening, aggressive, verbally abusive, threatened self-harm and was in no way co-operative with nursing staff.
In addition to entering the bedroom of others, the patient was also being loud and demanding. The notes outlined it was necessary to seclude him, which was sanctioned by the doctor on call, the record noted.
“When staff attempted to seclude him, he struggled, which prompted PMAN nursing techniques. He was encouraged to go to the high observation area in the seclusion room but refused,” the official record stated.
A Mid-West HSE official has written to Mrs Keogh concerning the inclusion of a “copy of a single page record relating to another patient”, which was inadvertently released to her as part of her FOI request.
“The matter has been notified to the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner by the HSE as a breach of data protection and arrangements are being made to notify the other person. On behalf of the Clare Mental Health Service, I wish to apologise to you and your family for this unfortunate error and breach of data protection.
“I can assure you that every effort is being made to rectify matters and steps have been made to notify the person to whom the record refers,” the official stated.
He also requested Mrs Keogh to return the record or any copes of it, if she had not done so already in the strictest of confidence.
A spokesman for the HSE said when mistakes occur, they do their best to rectify them immediately.
“We have already dealt with this matter directly with Mrs Keogh and other interested parties. The public will be aware that the HSE does not comment on individual cases, except in the unusual circumstances of major issues of public confidence. The reasons for this are not simply legal or professional, they are also ethical,” he said.
The Clare Mental Health Service recently also apologised to Mrs Keogh over its failure to properly deal with a complaint concerning the treatment of her husband, who was admitted as a voluntary patient to the acute psychiatric unit of Ennis hospital in February 2009.
This followed a release of a report by the Office of the Ombudsman, which stated a local manager couldn’t find any record to indicate whether or not the complaint was ever referred to a senior medic and acknowledged that in all probability, it was not done.
Mrs Keogh also expressed her shock and upset at receiving a “shameful” letter as part of the release of medical records under the FOI Act, which incorrectly stated her husband, John Keogh, who was 59 when he was admitted for treatment, was dead.
“This caused me so much distress and following on from the treatment both me and my husband received, I could not believe that such an insensitive letter could be sent out to me. I am still upset each time I think of this shameful letter,” she told The Clare Champion.
Diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease in 2002, her husband was treated for suspected Lewy Body Dementia in 2008 and is still receiving treatment for dementia.
Mrs Keogh has requested the HSE to conduct an independent public inquiry into all aspects of her husband’s care, including his medication and treatment while he was a patient in the Clare Mental Health Service over an eight-week period in 2009.
She believes this inquiry should also include all psychiatric patients who were present at the time and all the treatments they received from medical staff.