There were 67 valid protected disclosures made to the Health Service Executive last year, of which more than a third related to the alleged “endangerment of health and safety” of patients or service users.
On Friday, the HSE published its 2024 annual report, which found there were 135 protected disclosures received by the executive last year, up 38 per cent when compared with 2023.
A total of 67 disclosures were deemed to be “valid”. Of these, 26 were closed over the 12-month period and 41 are “still under examination”.
More than 80 per cent of disclosures were made by HSE employees, with the remainder coming from Section 38/39 workers who were not HSE employees.
A total of 37 per cent of disclosures related to the endangerment of health and safety, 15 (22 per cent) related primarily to alleged unlawful or improper use of funds, with a further 15 relating to “oppressive, discriminatory or behaviour that constitutes gross misconduct by a public body”.
The responsible area that had the highest number of disclosures was HSE Dublin and Midlands with 15, followed by HSE Dublin and North East at 12 and HSE Dublin and South East at 10.
According to the annual report, Ireland’s population grew by approximately 100,000 people last year, reaching 5.38 million.
The number of people aged 65 and over has increased by 37 per cent since 2015 and life expectancy now stands at 82.6 years – above the EU average.
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