Leaked HSE memos reveal plans to short-change children with cancer

“Ten years on, since the start of this ongoing fiasco we are no further forward,” Jennifer Carpenter, service manager for Hand in Hand stated. “If it weren’t for the internal communications sent to us in error, we’d still be completely in the dark about where our money went.”

In 2008, after the closure of a fellow Children’s Charity, Boys Hope - Girls Hope, the HSE committed funding to the amount of €450,000 to be paid to Hand in Hand over a three-year period. €300,000 was to be directly redistributed from the closure of Boys Hope - Girls Hope Charity via the HSE (for safe-keeping) and a further €150,000 was additionally committed by the HSE.

What has become clear through the HSE internal communications sent to Hand in Hand in error is that from the outset the HSE did not intend to honour either commitment.

Alarmingly, within one of the earlier dated HSE emails an HSE official remarked that, “It goes without saying that [Hand in Hand] do not need to know that the funding is being reduced...”

A few months later the HSE reported to Hand in Hand that they were “not in a position,” to release the funds and the charity were informed that the matter was “non-negotiable.”

Through the leaked communications it has become clear that the allocated funding was used by the HSE to offset their own bottom line.

For Hand in Hand, the only Charity in Ireland providing their type of support services to families with children undergoing cancer treatment, these funds and lack thereof have changed the trajectory of the charity and the families they support.

“We run a very lean charity with only two full-time staff so that we can provide the maximum level of support to the families we work with,” Laura Bromley, fundraiser for Hand in Hand explains, “literally, every penny counts.”

The charity currently work with 50 families across the country with a waiting list that continues to grow. In Ireland, over 200 children are diagnosed with cancer every year with one in every 300 children diagnosed by their 19^th birthday.

“In an ideal world we would be able to help every family in Ireland with a child undergoing cancer treatment,” Jennifer Carpenter states. “The missing funds would have gone a long way towards achieving this. We could have provided thousands more episodes of care to families that need our support during the most difficult period in their lives.”

Hand in Hand have patiently persisted for a decade and have been repeatedly put on the back burner by the HSE. Meetings are continually postponed and avoided.

“We would like to see the HSE make good of their broken commitments,” Ms. Carpenter said. “It was nice that Simon Harris, Health Minister, acknowledged the value of our work in our last meeting but that doesn’t help our families. How can you misappropriate a children’s charity funds with a clear conscience?”