System Analysis Investigation - 11. Right to Review - Minutes of Serious Incident Management Team (SIMT) Meeting and PCR Laboratory Test Results
The HSE is a public service provider and St Luke’s General Hospital, Kilkenny is a public service hospital located in Kilkenny, Co Kilkenny, Ireland and is managed by the Ireland East Hospital Group (IEHG) comprising 12 public service hospitals.
The decision letter I received from Mr Declan Kelly, General Services Manager/Freedom of Information Officer/FOI Decision Maker dated 24th August 2023 regarding my request for the minutes of the meeting held by the Serious Incident Management Team (SIMT) at St Luke’s General Hospital, Kilkenny on Monday, 24th July 2023 stated that I had a Right of Review - see my post titled: “System Analysis Investigation - 9. REVEALED Clinical Director and General Manager Sleight of Hand!”;
Additionally, the separate decision letter I received from Mr Declan Kelly, General Services Manager/Freedom of Information Officer/Decision Maker dated 7th September 2023 (however, within the body of the letter Mr Declan Kelly states “The date of my decision is 6th September 2023”) regarding my request for PCR Laboratory Test Results, Method Used and Amplification Cycle Threshold (Ct) Value stated that I had a Right of Review – see my post titled: “System Analysis Investigation - 10. PCR Laboratory Test Results, Method Used and Amplification Cycle Threshold (Ct) Value”;
I note that Mr Declan Kelly had not previously provided his HSE office telephone number and direct HSE email address within his response letters. However, it is notable that he did provide this information within his response to my request for the PCR Laboratory Test Results, Method Used and Amplification Cycle Threshold (Ct) Value.
Could this have been in order to encourage me to communicate directly with him rather than submitting a request for a review of his decision; where his decision in my opinion does not stand up to scrutiny and appears to be a serious breach of his role as Freedom of Information Officer?
It is evident that hospital staff were intent on making my request more complex than necessary and had a desire to create a confused timeline of response regarding my request for data and had split my request for the above data into two separate requests.
Therefore, on 8th September 2023 in order to ensure that these matters were dealt with correctly, I requested a review of both matters within one letter which I sent by email attachment (see below).
In particular, I stated the following within my letter regarding the written ‘Fact Sheet for Healthcare Providers/Instructions for Use Leaflets’ provided by the manufacturers of the PCR tests which the HSE state they used on my father both before and after his death;
LETTER:
On 11th September 2023 (see below), I received an acknowledgement of my email and letter dated 8th September 2023 by way of email from Ms Angela Killeen, on behalf of Wendy Buckley, Consumer Affairs Officer, Consumer Affairs Office, Tullamore, Co. Offaly which informed me that Ms Caroline Kohn was the FOI Internal Review Officer for the Ireland East Hospital Group (IEHG) and that my application for this review had been passed to her and that Ms Kohn would reply directly to me on this matter.
This is the same Ms Caroline Kohn, Communications Manager for the Ireland East Hospital Group (IEHG) who had previously given me the incorrect address for the OIC where she stated it was “18 Lower Leeson Street, Dublin 2” rather than the factual address of 6 Earlsfort Terrace, Dublin 2 D02 W773 and she did not provide an email address for the OIC, nor did she provide a link to the OIC website. It is my opinion that she may have done this as a deliberate act in order to deceive, perhaps hoping that any appeal to the OIC would be sent to the wrong address allowing the 6-month time limit to expire? - see my post titled: “System Analysis Investigation - 8. The OIC Insist Closure of Appeal – Could there be Collusion?”
Additionally, would Ms Caroline Kohn as Communications Manager for the Ireland East Hospital Group (IEHG) really be interested in finding fault with one of the hospitals within the group and overturn the decision of Mr Declan Kelly? I am of the opinion that her dual role is a clear conflict of interest! – see my post titled: “System Analysis Investigation - 7. Conflict of Interest - The HSE Denied Access to Unredacted Preliminary Assessment Form”
What happened next is shocking!
On 18th September 2023 at 12.40 pm (which was a week after I received the above acknowledgement) and without being contacted by Ms Caroline Kohn, I received an email (see below) from Ms Alison Mulloney, Consumer Affairs Manager, St Luke’s General Hospital, Kilkenny with attached letter dated 18th September 2023 from Mr Declan Kelly, General Services Manager/Freedom of Information Officer/FOI Decision Maker; where it is obvious that someone had made direct contact with Mr Declan Kelly following my request for a review of his decision and Mr Declan Kelly then proceeded to review his own decision!
This is an extremely underhanded way to behave, as a review should involve a complete reconsideration of the matter by a more senior member of staff from the HSE and in this case it had been passed to Ms Caroline Kohn, Communications Manager and FOI Internal Review Officer for the Ireland East Hospital Group (IEHG) on 11th September 2023 for her to review.
Who had been in direct contact with Mr Declan Kelly following my request for a review of his decision?
Mr Declan Kelly, FOI Decision Maker had written the letter dated 18th September 2023 (see below) as reviewer of his own decision!
Mr Declan Kelly should NOT review his own decisions!
On 11th September 2023, Ms Angela Killeen, on behalf of Wendy Buckley, Consumer Affairs Officer, Consumer Affairs Office, Tullamore, Co. Offaly stated my application for this review dated 8th September 2023 had been passed to Ms Caroline Kohn who is Communications Manager and FOI Internal Review Officer for the Ireland East Hospital Group (IEHG) and that Ms Kohn would reply directly to me on this matter. Did Ms Caroline Kohn contact Mr Declan Kelly following her receipt of my request for a review of his decision?
Would Ms Caroline Kohn as Communications Manager for the Ireland East Hospital Group (IEHG) really be interested in finding fault with one of the hospitals within the group she was responsible for and overturn the decision of Mr Declan Kelly?
Did Ms Caroline Kohn as Communications Manager for the Ireland East Hospital Group (IEHG) contact Mr Declan Kelly and tell him to write the letter dated 18th September 2023 in the hope that it would be the end of the matter and not draw attention to the fact that he had acted in breach of his role as Freedom of Information Office by not providing me with original data, rather he had created a typed list and ‘inserted’ it into the body of a letter?
This underhanded behaviour, misleading and deceptive conduct is evidence that Mr Declan Kelly and other staff within the HSE have acted in breach of HSE policy and the Freedom of Information Act.
It appears from Mr Declan Kelly’s letter dated 18th September 2023 that someone at the HSE did not want Mr Declan Kelly’s decision regarding my request for the PCR Laboratory Test Results, Method Used and Amplification Cycle Threshold (Ct) Value to be reviewed and recorded within FOI records and therefore, with speed Mr Declan Kelly sent me the following letter in order to attempt to have my request for a review of his decision stopped;
LETTER:
One minute later on the same day, 18th September 2023 at 12.41 pm, I received the following email containing a password from Ms Alison Mulloney, Consumer Affairs Manager, St Luke’s General Hospital, Kilkenny;
In the above letter Mr Declan Kelly states;
Mr Declan Kelly’s statement above is a falsehood.
I had not sent my letter requesting a review of his decision to St Luke’s General Hospital, Kilkenny on 08.09.2023, rather as directed, I had sent it directly by email to Consumer Affairs at consumer.contact@hse.ie (with a copy to my sister) who are based at the following office; Consumer Affairs Office, 3rd Floor, Scott Building, Arden Road, Tullamore, Co Offaly, R35 NY51. It was acknowledged by Ms Angela Killeen, on behalf of Wendy Buckley, Consumer Affairs Officer, Consumer Affairs Office, Tullamore, Co. Offaly who stated that my application for this review dated 8th September 2023 had been passed on 11th September 2023 to Ms Caroline Kohn (who is Communications Manager for the Ireland East Hospital Group (IEHG)) and that Ms Kohn would carry out the review as FOI Internal Review Officer for the Ireland East Hospital Group (IEHG) and would reply directly to me on this matter.
In my opinion, Mr Declan Kelly wrote the above falsehood in order to deflect attention away from the fact that he was reviewing his own decision and that someone at the HSE did not want his decision regarding my request for the PCR Laboratory Test Results, Method Used and Amplification Cycle Threshold (Ct) Value to be reviewed and recorded within FOI records as he had acted in breach of HSE policy and the Freedom of Information Act.
Additionally, in the above letter Mr Declan Kelly states;
The above statement is nonsensical and does not stand up to scrutiny as Mr Declan Kelly’s decision letter dated 7th September 2023 (however, within the body of the letter Mr Declan Kelly states “The date of my decision is 6th September 2023”) clearly stated the following where he ‘inserted’ a typed list of data within the body of his letter, rather than providing the data in its original format and there was no indication of any intention by him nor any other person to provide the data in its original format by attachment or otherwise – therefore, to state “they were omitted” or an “This was an administrative error” is evidently untrue;
Mr Declan Kelly further stated;
And;
It is evident that both statements above are untrue as Mr Declan Kelly did not attach any screenshots from the Laboratory System to his letter dated 18th September 2023, rather he attached a word document titled Ct Counts XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX – screen shots re Covid count.docx which was not screenshots, was not saved as a pdf document, rather it was a word document and appears to have been altered before being sent to me.
In addition, Mr Declan Kelly attached a document titled 14.09.2023 – XXXXXXXXX Covid results and Count XX.pdf which was a pdf document that contained a copy of the typed list of data Mr Declan Kelly had ‘inserted’ into the body of his letter dated 7th September 2023 and copies of what appeared to be reports from an APEX Web Enquiry which were clearly not screenshots and appear to have been altered before being saved as a pdf document – both the typed list and the APEX Web Enquiry were saved as one pdf document. The fact that this pdf document contained Mr Declan Kelly’s typed list is evidence that the pdf document was not the original data from the APEX Web Enquiry.
Did Mr Declan Kelly use the word ‘screen shots’ within his letter and within the name of the word document he attached to his letter in order to mislead and draw attention away from the fact that the data he presented had been altered and was not in fact screenshots?
Evidence: The document provided to me by Mr Declan Kelly named; Ct Counts XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX - screen shots re Covid count.docx was a word document and not screenshots as stated by Mr Declan Kelly and appears to have been altered before being sent to me;
Further, Mr Declan Kelly in providing the data in this way was acting in a highly suspicious manner.
I found a hidden page within the word document that was revealed when a page break was removed. It was clear that the page break had been inserted beneath the PCR test result dated 28.12.2022. The hidden page beneath the PCR test result dated 28.12.2022 contained different data than the other PCR test results shown dated 09.12.2022, 18.12.2022 and 06.01.2023 within the same word document.
Why was the page hidden and why did it contain different data?
Did Mr Declan Kelly insert a PCR test result into the word document which was not my father’s and was this test result manipulated in order to appear that it was my fathers? – see my post titled: “System Analysis Investigation - 10. PCR Laboratory Test Results, Method Used and Amplification Cycle Threshold (Ct) Value”
Additionally, the timing of the PCR test dated 18.12.2022 provided by Mr Declan Kelly had been changed to make it appear that the PCR test had been taken earlier in the day. Who carried out this fraud?
The coroner had already provided our family with some of this data in its original format which showed the Ct count. Therefore, I knew how the requested data should be presented in its original format and that to present data as Mr Declan Kelly had done, firstly as a typed list ‘inserted’ into the center of a letter and then on being challenged, Mr Declan Kelly presented the data as a word document which he referred to as screenshots, which contained a hidden page in addition to manipulated and altered data. This is evidence of highly suspicious, misleading, deceptive and fraudulent conduct.
The data in its original format did show the Ct count and therefore, there was no requirement for Mr Declan Kelly to ‘insert’ a typed list within the body of his letter as the information was recorded on the laboratory reports provided to our family by the coroner. It is evident that Mr Declan Kelly had made falsehoods regarding this matter.
In my opinion, the evidence shows that Mr Declan Kelly, General Services Manager/Freedom of Information Officer/Decision Maker was continuing to make untrue statements and continuing to attempt to mislead our family.
Our family have written evidence that Mr Declan Kelly had been attending meetings called by Dr Kenneth Bolger Irish Medical Council Registration Number 258617, where Dr Kenneth Bolger was calling meetings with HSE staff in order to have our complaints regarding his gross negligence to a criminal degree dismissed and to ensure that the mistreatment of our father resulting in his death was covered up.
The same day, 18th September 2023 at 16.16 pm, I responded to Ms Alison Mulloney, Consumer Affairs Manager, St Luke’s General Hospital, Kilkenny by email (see below) with a copy to Ms Caroline Kohn, Communications Manager/FOI Internal Review Officer for the Ireland East Hospital Group (IEHG) and others, in particular to state;
Ms Alison Mulloney, Consumer Affairs Manager, St Luke’s General Hospital, Kilkenny did not respond to my email above, nor did any member of HSE staff.
I had sent my appeal request under my Right of Review for both matters together in one letter on 8th September 2023 in order to ensure that the matter of the minutes of the meeting held by the Serious Incident Management Team (SIMT) on Monday, 24th July 2023 and the matter of the PCR Laboratory Test Results, Method Used and Amplification Cycle Threshold (Ct) Value were dealt with correctly.
On 28th September 2023 as an outcome of my appeal, I received two separate extremely unsatisfactory Ireland East Hospital Group (IEHG) Right to Review reports dated 28th September 2023 which had been written by Ms Caroline Kohn, Communications Manager for the Ireland East Hospital Group (IEHG).
However, the matters I raised regarding the process not being carried out correctly and that there is an unhealthy interaction between the original decision maker and the review process, as evident where there was an attempt to conceal wrongdoing by sending information outside the review process and by the misleading and deceptive conduct of Mr Declan Kelly, General Services Manager/Freedom of Information Officer/Decision Maker at St Luke’s General Hospital, Kilkenny (HSE), was neither acknowledged or dealt with by anyone at the HSE!