HSE NOW ACCUSED OF COVID CAMPUS COVER-UP
Minister urged to launch an investigation
THE HSE has been accused of a ‘cover-up’ after a Covid-19 patient absconded from a facility for addicts onto a nursing home campus where 24 residents died from the virus. The Irish Daily Mail can reveal a vulnerable patient with coronavirus hopped a wall at the HSE-run Keltoi centre in Dublin’s Phoenix Park, which shares a campus with St Mary’s nursing home, just a six-minute walk away.
The HSE is using its Keltoi residential rehabilitation centre to house virus patients who are homeless, have addiction problems or who could not self-isolate in their homes. However, it is on the
same site as St Mary’s Hospital nursing home, where 24 residents died from the virus, leading to a public outcry and an investigation.
A HSE whistleblower told the Mail that St Mary’s nursing home was not notified about the incident, leading to concerns about infection control at the nursing home.
St Mary’s has the greatest number of Covid-19 deaths of all HSE-run nursing homes.
A private security firm is employed at the nearby Keltoi, with people isolating supposed to be bussed in and out of the facility, on appointment.
The Mail can reveal that on May 18, a Keltoi resident ‘jumped over the back wall’ of the facility onto the shared campus of St Mary’s home.
Gardaí were called by staff at Keltoi and conducted ‘extensive enquiries’.
The 52-year-old man was located two days later. At the time, the man was one of just three people isolating in the little-used Keltoi facility.
The HSE refused to clarify to this newspaper whether it informed the nursing home of the incident or not.
‘It looks like a cover-up by HSE’
It also denied that a person isolating in the Keltoi rehab facility fled the facility.
On June 5, the HSE said that National Public Health guidelines were being complied with and that people are brought in and out of the facility on appointment.
On June 9, the HSE said: ‘We do not have a record of the case you outline. People selfisolate at Keltoi voluntarily and they may choose to leave Keltoi to self-isolate elsewhere. Where this happens, they are followed up and supported as appropriate.’
Earlier this month the HSE told this newspaper that it had ‘no record’ of the incident and invited the Mail to provide more details of the incident.
When exact details of the incident were put to the HSE, it said: ‘We cannot comment on individual cases.’
A HSE whistleblower has said that management at the nursing home were not informed about the incident at Keltoi. The HSE refused to confirm whether the nursing home was informed or what action was taken.
The whistleblower told this newspaper that senior HSE management ‘went ballistic’ over the incident but that the manager of the nursing home was not informed.
‘There’s no other way to describe it, it’s a cover-up,’ the whistleblower said.
‘They knew the significance of this if it got out because they were already under pressure about bringing people with Covid-19 in when they were advised not to.’
Sinn Féin health spokesperson Louise O’Reilly has called on Health Minister Simon Harris to launch an investigation into the facility. ‘The Minister needs to get to the bottom of this, it looks like a cover-up from the HSE,’ she said. ‘Now that we know that people have absconded from the service and the HSE hasn’t acknowledged this, I think the Minister should be calling for an investigation.’
As part of a month-long investigation, the Mail has previously revealed how the Keltoi rehab centre was repurposed in response to the Covid-19 crisis – against clinical advice – to allow for 18 isolation beds for vulnerable people with Covid-19.
Concerns were raised by families of St Mary’s residents, clinicians and politicians about bringing people with Covid-19 onto the campus where they were desperately trying to keep the virus out.
The Health Information and Quality Authority has notified its ‘relevant inspector’ of the incident after being contacted by the Mail.
In a statement, the HSE said the use of the term ‘abscond’ is inaccurate and misleading in relation to the incident. A spokesman added: ‘St Mary’s Hospital management are aware of the service in Keltoi and are in regular contact.’
‘They are in regular contact’