Tipperary autism advocate calls for Health Ombudsman role to be created

An autism campaigner from Ardfinnan has called for the introduction of a Health Ombudsman and a HSE Health Oversight Board.

“HSE management is totally unaccountable to the citizens of this country,” said Mark Darmody speaking live on Virgin Media’s The Tonight Show recently.
“The starting point here has to be what the Ombudsman for Children said in his annual report last June, that there is discrimination towards these kids when they don’t receive the necessary services that they are entitled to,” said the Tipperary campaigner.

“What you don’t hear very often is that there is permanent damage being done to these kids when they don’t get those services.
“Without using loaded language, these kids are not cattle, they are real children that can’t just be herded into schools without access to supports or services,” he said.

Mark, who has two severely autistic sons Neil and John, is also the father of Cara Darmody, the 12-year-old who came to national attention for sitting the Junior Cycle Maths exam for charity last June.
Mark addressed the dire situation that presently exists in Tipperary.

“So right now in south Tipperary, we are in probably the worst area in terms of statistics. The HSE vacancies are shocking. I have statistics from a Dáil Parliamentary Question - there is nearly 18,000 children in this country waiting for the first phone-call from the HSE. I’m not even talking about an appointment to see what services the child requires - they haven’t even received the very first contact from their local HSE disability services team. That’s heading towards 20,000 children waiting by Christmas time,” he said.

Mark Darmody outlined the difficult position this places schools in.
“This all occurs before the child enters the education system. The child’s school is then expected to pick up the mess of the HSE’s failures. It has to be called out - it is discrimination. Somebody has to call it out and that’s what I’m doing,” he said.

WAITING LISTS
He also described a recent telephone call that he had with a local HSE Disability Services Manager.
“What shocked me was when she said that she believed they were doing a good job. How anyone can describe leaving vulnerable children with disabilities on waiting lists for years as doing a good job, is quite simply beyond me. In my opinion the HSE is living on planet cuckoo-land,” he said.
Calling on politicians to create systems that will hold the HSE to account, Mark Darmody said the HSE had dramatically failed children and parents across the country.

UNACCOUNTABILITY
“The Taoiseach himself has admitted that the HSE are basically only accountable to their own board. What we have consistently said, including to the Taoiseach in person in July, is that politicians are guilty of allowing this level of unaccountability to occur. They are also not treating this like a crisis. That must change,” he insisted.

“I would compare the HSE to An Garda Síochána - we have an Ombudsman for the gardaí and we also have a Policing Authority that externally holds them to account. An Garda Síochána is a better organisation for that, and the public has confidence in the external scrutiny. The HSE are totally unaccountable externally. Every time I ask a politician why that is so, nobody seems to have an answer. I am now calling for the immediate introduction of a Health Ombudsman, with serious powers of investigation as well as powers of entry if necessary, very similar to GSOC. A HSE Oversight Body that is 100% external to the HSE must also be set up to hold their management to account for their abject failures. Nothing else will be enough,” he said.

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Addressing why the Ombudsman for Children is unsuitable to presently investigate HSE complaints, he said they had no power to compel the HSE to do anything.
“Put simply, their office has no real powers or teeth and they also deal with many, many other child-related issues so their remit is too wide to deal with the HSE. We need a specific Health Ombudsman with real powers and sharp teeth. Otherwise, the HSE will continue to do as they please and children will continue to rot on waiting lists,” he stated.