THE CEO OF the Cork University Hospital (CUH) was “surprised and disappointed” to learn that an employee who is the subject of an investigation was still onsite and involved in a programme for international nurses last November, documentation has revealed.
It is understood that chief executive David Donegan asked for the senior employee to be removed from the hospital – while a formal investigation is ongoing – at least twice before his request was actioned.
In a follow-up letter to a nursing director on 15 December 2023, he said, “I am requesting… immediate removal from Cork University Hospital Group from close of business today.”
He told the director that it was up to them to decide if the staff member was to be suspended or redeployed while the investigation is ongoing. He also asked for confirmation that the matter was actioned.
In October of last year, The Journal reported that an investigator had been commissioned by CUH to investigate a complaint from a migrant nurse who alleged she was mistreated and discriminated against by a senior staff member.
The probe came over a year after the hospital received a group petition from 29 nurses who claimed they were subjected to “humiliation, discrimination… and derogatory comments”, including racist remarks, by the same staff member while undertaking a mandatory adaptation programme at the hospital.
Details of correspondence between the CUH CEO and one of his managers in regards to the senior staff member’s position at the end of 2023 was first reported by The Village Magazine last week.
A month after The Journal’s report, Donegan wrote to the Director of CUH’s Nursing and Midwifery Planning and Development Unit (NMPDU) about the “serious allegations” facing the staff member who was the subject of the complaints.
He said that he had “just become aware” that this staff member “has been on site” and involved in an adaptation programme for another cohort of international nurses.
Donegan said that he had been under the impression that the senior staff member was no longer “assigned to work” at CUH pending the outcome of the investigations into their conduct under the HSE Dignity at Work Policy.
He asserted that given the “seriousness of the complaint” he did not think it “appropriate” that the staff member was still on campus, or training another cohort of migrant nurses “given the basis of the complaints”.
Donegan said that he, as CEO, has a “duty of care” to new and current staff at the hospital, and therefore “the current context cannot remain”.
In his 15 December 2023 letter, seen by The Journal, Donegan informed the manager that two of the complaints against the senior staff member under their management were, at that stage, under investigation, and that the third complaint had been screened, and would also necessitate investigation.
“The fact remains as the accountable officer for Cork University Hospital Group with a duty of care for all staff, I cannot have [redacted] continue to be onsite” the CEO wrote.
Donegan emphasised the “seriousness” of the allegations made in the complaints, and said that there had been a number of “high profile media articles and FOI requests” in relation to the matter.
In a statement to The Journal, the HSE said it takes “allegations of this kind very seriously”.
“All staff have a right to work in an environment free of discrimination and we take strenuous efforts to protect the dignity, wellbeing, and safety of staff,” the statement continued, noting also that “out of respect for any process which may be underway, we cannot comment at this time”.
“To do so may prejudice the outcome and undermine the process. We also have a responsibility to protect the privacy of all staff members. It would be unfair of us as an organisation to single out any identifiable individual or individuals while such a process is underway as this could undermine someone’s right to fair process, as well as undermining the process itself.”
The 29 nurses who signed the 2022 petition were told at the time that a group complaint could not be accepted by the hospital, and that they must come forward on an individual basis for their allegations to be investigated.
At least three complaints were submitted to the hospital’s management. Two complaints were submitted directly to the interim CEO, Gerard O’Callaghan, who was in place before Donegan took over the post in August 2022.
There was a significant delay in the complaints being addressed, with CUH claiming that it took over a year to reply to a complaint from a migrant nurse due to a “lack of resources”, The Journal understands.
The petition that was submitted to CUH management claimed that racial slurs and sentiments directed at them included:
“When they are being questioned they shake their heads sideways… (they exaggeratedly enacted it themselves while saying this)”, the petition reads.
The Journal has previously asked CUH if the staff member in question wanted to offer a statement in relation to the allegations but no answer was forthcoming.
A report from CUH to the NMBI during a review of the adaptation programme characterised the incidents as “misinterpretations”, journalist Conor O’Carroll reported in The Village Magazine last month.
The report said that “increased awareness now exists and every effort is being taken to avoid possible misinterpretations”.
The NMBI has said it is engaged with the hospital, which had given the board assurances that “improvements” have been made to the delivery of its adaptation programme.
“The provider has recruited a senior manager with responsibility for the welfare of the candidates and the delivery of the adaptation programme, and put in place a candidate feedback survey, and established an oversight and governance group for the programme,” the NMBI said.
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