Former health minister Simon Harris has urged the HSE to "establish the facts" in the case of a woman's care at a Waterford nursing home, and to interview a whistleblower who claimed staff neglected the patient in the weeks leading up to her death.
Mr Harris said he was "very concerned" at an Irish Examiner report that a healthcare assistant had not been interviewed, almost four years after making a protected disclosure to the HSE.
This is despite the forming in 2020 of an internal review panel to investigate the complaint, with terms of reference for the investigation also set that same year.
The whistleblower was working at a HSE-run nursing home in Waterford in late 2015 when a patient — a woman aged in her early 90s — had a rapid deterioration in her health over five weeks, suffering severe dehydration and emaciation.
It is alleged this occurred because the woman was neglected by other staff.
The woman died shortly after being rushed to hospital and a protected disclosure was lodged with the HSE, which declined to comment, in May 2018 by the healthcare assistant. The HSE has limited updates to the whistleblower, citing she is not next of kin to the deceased.
Family members of the patient have also made a complaint which is ongoing, it is understood.
Mr Harris said it was important for the HSE to now carry out the investigation.
"It's in everybody's interest when issues are brought forward for facts to be established as quickly as possible and it would certainly seem...
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