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Irish Times
a day ago
- Climate
- Irish Times
Met Éireann records more than 50mm of rain as downpours hit Dublin and Louth
More than 50mm of rain was recorded in parts of counties Louth and Dublin during downpours on Monday. Status Orange rain and thunderstorm warnings for the two counties, as well as Meath and Wicklow, expired at 2pm on Monday. Met Éireann had warned of potential impacts including widespread surface flooding, difficult travelling conditions, lightning damage and very poor visibility. A UK Met Office amber alert for counties Antrim, Armagh and Down was in effect until 8am on Monday. The same three counties remain under a yellow rain alert until 6pm on Monday. READ MORE Met Éireann forecaster Brandon Creagh on Monday said 60mm of rainfall had been recorded in Dundalk, Co Louth since the early hours. He said there was 50mm of rain in Ardee, Co Louth, and 54mm in the Phoenix Park and Glasnevin in Dublin. He said coastal conditions were stable, while some smaller rivers posed a risk of flooding. In Dublin, Children's Health Ireland said there was flooding at Temple Street hospital but this had 'no major impact on patient care'. It said families would be contacted if any appointments or care plans were affected. 'Our priority remains the safety and wellbeing of our patients, families and staff.' In Co Fermanagh, footage posted online showed flood waters in the Marble Arch Caves as well as on a number of roads including Sligo Road in Enniskillen, which was described as impassable by police on Sunday. Flooding near Damastown Avenue, Co Dublin on Monday morning. Photograph: Alan Betson A PSNI spokeswoman said: 'Please take care when travelling, slow down, and exercise caution on affected roads.' A Met Éireann status yellow warning for counties Kildare and Monaghan expired at 2pm on Monday. This warned of the potential for localised flooding and difficult travel conditions. Limerick City and County Council said it responded to a flash flooding incident in the Dromcollogher area on Sunday evening. Sandbags were distributed to protect at-risk local properties, with farmers supporting the effort by supplying water pumps. 'Fire crews stood down at approximately 2am as water levels had receded,' the council said. 'All roads in the area are open this morning. Motorists are advised to proceed with caution.' The latest forecast suggests other parts of the State will be drier on Monday, albeit with some isolated showers. 'Later in the afternoon, rain in the east will ease and become patchy. Highest temperatures of 15 to 20 degrees in moderate, occasionally fresh, northwest winds,' Met Éireann said. 'Tonight it will become largely dry as any lingering rain in the northeast clears, leaving clear spells and isolated showers for the night. Lowest temperatures of 11 to 14 degrees in light west to northwest winds.' [ St Swithin's Day: It's raining today - will it rain for the next 40 days? Opens in new window ] Tuesday morning will be dry for the most part with bright spells and isolated showers. However, more frequent showers are expected to spread from the west through the morning and early afternoon, with high temperatures of 15 to 19 degrees. Wednesday and Thursday are to be drier days, with isolated showers forecast. Outbreaks of rain and drizzle will develop on western and southwestern fringes later on Thursday, when temperatures will reach highs of 18 to 22 degrees. Friday is forecast to get off to a cloudy start with scattered showers, but with sunny spells developing later in the day and temperatures rising to highs of 20 degrees. There is to be plenty of dry weather on Saturday, with sunny spells and showers, though there is a chance of more persistent rain on Sunday.
BreakingNews.ie
3 days ago
- Health
- BreakingNews.ie
Concerns grow over further delays to opening of €2.2bn National Children's Hospital
Concerns are growing over further delays to the opening of the National Children's Hospital, as Children's Health Ireland has yet to be granted early access to the building. CHI had planned to begin preparations this summer, but says it is still waiting despite being ready to go since July 1st. Advertisement The €2.24 billion hospital is now due to be completed by the end of September, but key areas still have not met the required 'snag-free' standard. The hospital has already missed 14 previous deadlines. Speaking on Newstalk, Sinn Féin's health spokesperson, David Cullinane, said it is disappointing. "It's just one of the most frustrating public infrastructure projects that I have ever seen. "It just has been riddled with controversy after controversy and, while we all want to get to a point where the hospital is open and is treating patients, I just find it incredible that only a number of months ago we were told that this commissioning process would happen earlier, that there would be access at this point.
BreakingNews.ie
15-07-2025
- Health
- BreakingNews.ie
CHI apologies for dealy in diagnosing liver cancer in toddler who died
Children's Health Ireland has unreservedly apologised for a delay in diagnosing childhood liver cancer in a little girl, who later died. Eveen Sheehy was only two and a half years old when she died six years ago. Advertisement The family's counsel, Oonah Mc Crann SC, instructed by Niamh Ní Mhurchú, solicitor, told the High Court it was their case there were 'multiple missed opportunities, missed diagnosis and a delay in treatment.' Eveen's family, counsel said, are 'tortured by the what if.' The case was before the court as the Sheehy family settled an action against Children's Health Ireland over Eveen's death. In a letter which was read to the court, Children's Health Ireland (CHI) unreservedly apologised for the delay in diagnosis and acknowledged the impact and trauma of Eveen's passing on the family. Advertisement The letter, which was signed by CHI CEO Lucy Nugent, added: 'We acknowledge and deeply regret the delay in Eveen's diagnosis and again would like to express our deepest condolences on the loss of your daughter.' Ciaran Sheehy, Tuam, Co Galway, had sued Children's Health Ireland over the death of his daughter, Eveen. Counsel told the court that Eveen was born with a congenital heart condition and had a number of hospitalisations and surgeries. She said a CT scan in February 2018, which included some of the child's upper abdomen, was 'erroneously reported as normal.' Advertisement Counsel said that in October of that year, it was noted that the little girl had an enlarged liver, and it should have been fully investigated. Ms McCrann said Eveen had an MRI scan of her abdomen at the Crumlin hospital in May 2019, and the liver cancer diagnosis was made. She was started on chemotherapy, but it was decided the little girl was not a candidate for liver resection or a liver transplant and to the 'enormous grief and distress of her family,' she died on December 18th 2019. In the proceedings, it was claimed that in February 2018, while in CHI Crumlin, Eveen had a scan which showed some of the upper abdomen. Advertisement The upper abdomen was recorded as 'unremarkable' when, it is claimed, the images showed an abnormality in the liver at the periphery of the CT scan. Had the abnormality, which was a 2cm rounded area, been noted and reported, it is claimed that the baby would have undergone further scans, including an MRI and blood tests. It was contended that on the balance of probabilities, Eveen would have had a diagnosis within a week or two. It was claimed there was a failure to report an abnormality in the liver at the periphery of the CT scan in February 2018. There was, it was claimed, a gross delay in the diagnosis of EV with liver cancer, resulting in a consequent delay in the commencement of treatment and reduction in treatment options. Noting the settlement and approving the division of the €35,000 statutory mental distress payment, Mr Justice Paul Coffey said it was a particularly tragic case. The judge extended his deepest sympathy to Eveen's parents, Ciaran and Sandra Sheehy and her sister Brianna and the wider family.
Irish Times
16-06-2025
- Health
- Irish Times
Negative staff culture at Dublin children's hospital could ‘put patients at risk'
A negative culture among staff at a Dublin children's hospital has 'the potential to put patients at risk', a summary of a 2022 internal review states. On Monday, Children's Health Ireland (CHI) , which operates paediatric healthcare, published a summary of a review that was conducted in 2021. Finalised in 2022, it highlighted serious cultural issues as well as potential mismanagement of waiting lists. The organisation has said it cannot publish the report in full due to legal advice. The review, which has been leaked extensively in the media, is the latest in a series of controversies facing the body, following a review into the use of unauthorised springs in three children with scoliosis , as well as an audit on the threshold for hip surgery . READ MORE According to the summary, a total of 45 individuals at the unnamed children's hospital were interviewed, with most describing a culture within their department where change was slow, lacked governance and robust processes, and was influenced by strong and challenging personalities. 'These interpersonal difficulties among team members led to poor working relationships and a challenging working environment,' the summary said, adding that there was a high attrition rate among support staff due to 'bullying issues'. A 'significant risk' was identified where only one employee managed the needs of a complex tertiary speciality. 'This level of dependency on one individual for a critical service is not in line with best practice and created a vulnerability in this speciality,' the summary said. Half of medical trainees described the learning environment at the hospital as not conducive to learning. Consequently, the training body indicated there would be no intake of any new trainees or Specialist Registrars (SpRs) into the programme in 2022 due to concerns about the trainee experience which was 'reputationally damaging' for CHI. The report also stated that a negative culture can impact service delivery, department dynamics and staff experience and has the potential to put patients at risk, it added. On the topic of leadership and governance, the report said there was a 'substantial and persistent message of concern' regarding the lack of strong site leadership and good governance, along with poor operational oversight and accountability. 'There was consistent feedback that the challenging behaviours of some staff were not adequately addressed by the site leadership team. This led to a number of unresolved personal issues between employees,' it added. The report also said the management of a particular cohort of patients was inequitable across CHI Hospitals. According to the summary, issues were also identified with regard to National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) funded waiting list initiatives, in which some patients could have been seen by other departmental colleagues within the existing day to day service and 'potentially managed in a more proactive way'. In the summary, CHI outlined the actions it has taken in response to the review, including hiring an external facilitator to improve culture and teamwork in the department and implementing a 'robust process' for NTPF funded waiting list initiatives, requiring multiple approvals. [ Mother 'devastated' to be told her young son's hip operation was not necessary after all Opens in new window ] In a statement, CHI said it wants 'to be open and transparent' with families. 'CHI takes accountability to the public and the families it serves extremely seriously. While the legal situation around releasing the full report is complex, we want you to know that the concerns raised in that report have been and continue to be addressed,' the statement said. 'Important actions have been taken, and we have published details of those actions to assure you that improvements have been made.' It added: 'While the culture at CHI has come under criticism, and we know there is more work to do, we also see many powerful examples of kindness, teamwork, and clinical excellence across our hospitals, every day.'
Irish Times
11-06-2025
- Health
- Irish Times
Second hospital has NTPF waiting list funding suspended over ‘potential financial irregularities'
The National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) has suspended funding for initiatives aimed at tackling waiting lists in another public hospital on foot of 'potential financial irregularities'. The NTPF said today that it had alerted Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill and the HSE. The identity of the hospital concerned has not been disclosed. The NTPF pays for patients on waiting lists to receive treatment in both the public and private system. READ MORE In public hospitals it pays for patients who are waiting longest to receive treatment outside core working hours – at night-time or at weekends – with staff paid additional money to carry out work in their own time. This practice is known as 'insourcing'. Last week the NTPF said it had suspended funding for insourcing at facilities operated by the Children's Health Ireland (CHI). CHI runs the three paediatric hospitals in Dublin. In a statement today the organisation said it had alerted the Department of Health and HSE a number of weeks ago 'about potential financial irregularities in relation to NTPF-funded insourcing work at another public hospital'. It said it had suspended all insourcing work with that hospital since April 11th. It said it 'immediately informed the department and HSE of these concerns and is working with them in relation to the ongoing review. The matter has been referred to the HSE's Internal Audit team. The NTPF is restricted from making further comment at this stage.' Last week the NTPF said it had suspended funding following concerns raised in an internal CHI audit originally drawn up in 2022 but which was not published or shared elsewhere at the time. This internal report raised questioned over whether a series of five special clinics run by a consultant at CHI over a number of Saturdays for patients on waiting lists were needed and whether the children concerned could have been treated using capacity already in the public hospitals system. The consultant concerned had been paid €35,800 by the NTPF. The NTPF said on Wednesday that following a meeting of its board that funding is to be restored immediately for insourcing arrangements at CHI hospitals. It said this followed assurances provided by CHI in relation to its ongoing compliance with existing NTPF protocols and procedures. The NTPF said it 'will now increase governance and oversight across its insourcing work with public hospitals, who up to now have been responsible for this internal governance. The NTPF has notified the Department of Health and HSE of this decision.' Its chief executive Fiona Brady said: 'The board and executive of the NTPF take their responsibilities very seriously and will take whatever actions are necessary to ensure our spend with public hospitals is fully protected for the benefit of public patients. Any proven misuse of public money by public institutions will be treated with the gravity it deserves'.
