The board of management at Tallaght hospital will be reduced under new reforms announced today.
The 22-person hospital board met last night for the first time since it emerged that almost 58,000 X-rays taken over a four-year period were never reviewed by a consultant radiologist while thousands of GP letters were left unopened.
At last night's meeting, the chairman of the Adelaide Meath and National Children’s hospital, Lyndon MacCann presented the board with proposals to restructure and modernise the management of the facility.
Under the reforms the board of management at Tallaght hospital will consist of ten members including external representatives from patients groups and the business community.
The board also agreed to fundamental changes to management structures to include the new post of director of quality and it opted to retain PricewaterhouseCoopers to make formal recommendations on the size and structure of the hospital board
At last night's meeting, the board unanimously accepted the proposals and the new chief executive designate Prof Kevin Conlon informed hospital staff of the new reforms this morning.
Speaking on RTÉ News earlier today, Prof Conlon said said the failure to properly review x-rays at Tallaght hospital was "totally unacceptable."
He said the new reforms would ensure delivery of care was much more efficient.
"We have now come up with sweeping changes both at board level and at management level and we are open to any help that we can get so that we can deliver excellent care in the organisation because every patient deserves that," said Prof Conlon.
Minister for Health Mary Harney welcomed the new reforms saying that priority must be to the benefit of patients.
The Labour Party also welcomed the new measures announced today however its health spokeswoman Jan O'Sullivan said patient safety cannot be left to hospitals.
The revelations from Tallaght have raised concerns that are wider than this one hospital. The public need to know that all hospitals have clear procedures in place that protect patients. In addition, we need to know if there are other hospitals with unopened referral letters or unread x-rays," she said.
