Sir, – John McManus is right that institutions receiving substantial public funding must be accountable. However, his characterisation of voluntary hospitals misses the mark (“Rotunda consultant row is just the tip of the iceberg,” June 10th).
For more than two centuries, voluntary hospitals have been central to Irish healthcare. Many predate the State itself and have been responsible for some of the most important advances in Irish medicine. It is difficult to reconcile that record with his portrayal of the sector.
The suggestion that voluntary hospitals had to be “dragged kicking and screaming” into the HSE’s Integrated Financial Management System is simply not correct. Hospitals have engaged with the process throughout, while raising legitimate governance concerns. The fact that only two hospitals have implemented the system reflects the HSE’s own phased roll-out and pilot approach, not resistance from the sector.
Likewise, describing voluntary hospital governance as rooted in “1930s Catholic corporatism” confuses the historical origins of some with the modern reality of all. Today, each is governed by an independent board operating under contemporary governance standards and extensive public oversight. They also publish detailed annual reports and audited financial statements. HSE-run hospitals do not.
RM Block
The article’s classist characterisation of board members was particularly unkind and unnecessary. These individuals serve because they bring expertise in healthcare, finance, law and governance, not because they belong to some imagined social class.
The questions being asked of the Rotunda are entirely fair. However, serious failures in HSE hospitals are rarely treated as an argument against State management itself. Voluntary hospitals should be judged by the same standard. – Yours, etc,
MO FLYNN,
Chief Executive
Irish Voluntary Healthcare Association,
Dublin 18.
