HSE in Damage Control Mode to Block Full Release of Brandon Report
AFTER months of delay, the HSE finally released the summary of the Brandon report on December 16, the same day the Dáil adjourned for the Christmas recess, preventing a meaningful political discussion of what HSE chief Paul Reid, described it as “one of the most disgusting reports.” that I have read and indeed one of the most horrific reports I have had to read in my career ”.
While it’s no surprise that Reid is pushed back, HSE staff and senior management have failed to prevent known repeated sexual abuse of residents with developmental disabilities; Equally predictable is Reid’s determination to prevent the release of the full Brandon Report.
Despite empty rhetoric about open disclosure and transparency when serious failings are discovered, HSE management remains committed to a proven formula: damage control.
This response prioritizes the needs of the HSE over those the organization is supposed to protect.
News is delayed, withheld or trickled out as the HSE waits for media and political interest to fade in the ensuing scandal.
Endless processes serve to locate the time and distance between events and final reports, ultimately protecting HSE careers, as time passes and results are then contextualized as “historical”.
Paul Reid advises releasing the full report which contains poignant and important details omitted from the summary, would jeopardize disciplinary proceedings – “a process that is really important to us” – and may also identify the people who provided confidential information.
Neither point stands up to scrutiny.
Seven years after its debut, we are still awaiting the findings of the equally important HSE internal disciplinary investigation into the horrific events at Áras Attracta, a timeline that does not bode well for the proposed review in the Brandon case. .
More importantly, the full publication of similar reports occurs on a regular basis elsewhere, including Northern Ireland and the UK, without affecting criminal or disciplinary investigations, or compromising confidentiality.
It is essential that we ask ourselves why Reid, with an annual salary of € 426,000, cannot provide the same transparency in our health service.
Instead, we are fed a diet of “we introduced new measures to remedy failures, nothing to do here”. The reality is that there can be a lot more to see.
Although he was twice asked on RTÉ news if he could guarantee that the Brandon events did not happen at other facilities run by HSE, Reid clearly failed to do so, which immediately raises questions about other scandals that remain unknown to the public.
Instead, Reid said the HSE had introduced “dedicated backup resources and procedures.”
This trust is misplaced because these new processes failed even in the case of “Brandon”.
In May 2016, when Brandon was transferred to a nursing home, the HSE introduced a new protection policy and a local protection social work team in Donegal.
Ignoring the new policy and multiple demands from their own social workers, the HSE still has not developed a backup plan for Brandon and the residents of his new care setting for 18 months.
Reid has yet to explain why, despite the horrors of Leas Cross, Áras Attracta, Grace and Brandon’s case, HSE staff are not mandated to undergo adult protection training.
A recent report from the Department of Health shows that the public is unaware of the existence of protective social work teams, which is not surprising as the HSE stubbornly refuses to promote them on a national basis.
So we don’t insist that HSE staff take protection training, and we don’t tell the public how to report abuse to HSE.
On December 16, Paul Reid spoke nationally about the need to shift to a rights-based culture in disability services, but six days later wrote to Minister Anne Rabbitte refusing to speak fully commit to protecting essential disabled personnel from redeployment.
Does all of this sound like the work of an agency fully committed to the protection of adults?
The Irish Association of Social Workers have called for full publication as the report is likely to contain vital learning for social workers about missed opportunities to step in and protect residents.
If professionals are ready to host classes transparently in order to improve practice, why can’t our health department?
What interests, other than those of the HSE, are served by keeping this report out of the public domain?
There is reason to be hopeful: Thomas Pringle has been an incredible voice to residents, families and Brandon himself and Minister Anne Rabbitte has been tenacious in his role as Minister of State for Persons with Disabilities.
She has consistently challenged the HSE’s position, met with families and sought advice from the Attorney General on releasing the report.
She has strong political backing in the Taoiseach, Tánaiste and Simon Coveney and it is vital that that support continues if the government is serious about changing the HSE culture that it is so often tasked with championing or explaining in Dáil.
Health Minister Stephen Donnelly has been strangely absent from the Brandon case discussions; he must also step up and take on the HSE with the same determination as Rabbitte.
Anything less will mean more of the same.
It would be wrong to comment on the Brandon report without mentioning “Brandon” himself.
Viewed as an abuser, in truth he was a man with an intellectual disability who was just as vulnerable as those he was allowed to hurt.
The HSE failed to protect his basic human dignity, respond to his abusive behavior, or provide the care he needed.
The report which tells its story must be a turning point, a red line in the sand, which dismantles the defensive culture and obliges the HSE to act with real transparency.
Residents, families, citizens, politicians, advocacy groups and organizations representing those receiving care must come together and demand the full publication of the report.
In the absence of this collective action, we are essentially telling people in care settings that we accept that our health service can control and restrict information related to its own failures.
Who among us would aspire to live in the care of such a service?
