HSE boss has ‘full confidence’ in health official after false Taoiseach claim
Anne O’Connor claimed that comments by HSE South West regional executive officer Andy Phillips were made in a ‘fit of frustration’.
The HSE boss said she has “full confidence” in a senior health official after he apologised for falsely claiming the Taoiseach’s office had instructed him to speak to a hospital chief executive.
Anne O’Connor claimed that comments by HSE South West regional executive officer Andy Phillips when he met with Cork University Hospital (CUH) management in August were made in a “fit of frustration”.
The meeting happened after CUH chief executive Jennifer Kearney said that the hospital is facing a staff shortage of more than 1,000 people.
It has been reported that during the meeting, Mr Phillips told Ms Kearney that he had been instructed by the Taoiseach’s office and the Department of Health to have “some very specific conversations with you”.
Mr Phillips initially denied making the remarks, however he later apologised “unreservedly” after a recording emerged of the meeting, which was reported to have contained the comments.
Before the recording was made available, Taoiseach Micheál Martin told the Dáil that neither he nor his department had given any direction to Mr Phillips.
Mr Martin went on to question the accuracy of the minutes of the meeting.
A spokesman for the Taoiseach said that he had been given a draft statement in which Mr Phillips denied making the comments before he addressed the Dáil.
Mr Martin is now facing calls to correct the record of the Dáil, including from Social Democrats health spokesman Pádraig Rice.
Asked about Mr Phillips comments, Ms O’Connor told RTÉ This Week radio show: “So look, I think that what we’ve heard about is you know a meeting that happened three months ago in terms of who said what, that was illegally recorded, I would suggest.
“I think the minutes that were circulated were a part of the discussion that went on that day.
“But I think yes, and Andy has himself clarified that he said those things I think in a fit of frustration in terms of the discussion that was under way and he apologised for that.
“I think there was frustration on the day, and I think in the heat of the moment that was said.
“I wasn’t there. I can’t comment any more than that.
“I think in terms of the importance now of people working together, what I would say is that it is really, really important that people actually sit down and talk.”
She added: “I have confidence in Andy, but I’m very kind of mindful that we have an awful lot of work to do in CUH and in the region.
Ms O’Connor said that chief clinical officer Dr Colm Henry has visited the hospital twice to meet the team to “look at what actions needed to be implemented”.
“HIQA have been in. We welcome HIQA coming in to look at our hospitals. It gives us that extra level of assurance,” she added.
“Patient safety is about so many different things. It’s about how we work. It’s about the services we provide, and it’s about ensuring that we are doing the right things at the right time for patients.
“We know that in Cork University Hospital, as I said, they’re challenged. There’s nobody arguing about that.
“But what we can see objectively is that the hospital has grown in staffing in 2026.
“We can see that at the end of September they had 295 more staff than they had at the beginning of the year, and within that number, we can see that they had 55 more doctors and 59 more nurses, and so on.
“We know that they have a significant number of staff. The challenge now is to ensure that we have the right staff in the right place at the right time.”
Clinical directors at CUH have urged Mr Martin to carry out an independent assessment of staffing needs at the hospital.
However, Ms O’Connor said it is not needed.
“We can look at the staff complements. The region are supporting the hospital. The national team are supporting the region.
“We can see the census. We can see the figures. We have data across all of our model four hospitals.
“I think the other point I’d make is that, you know, CUH doesn’t operate in a bubble.
“So within the health service, we have integrated health areas. CUH sits within the region and is supported by the region.”