Anyone else aware of money 'going missing' in Irish hospitals?

It's really important that someone who has had a crime committed against them reports the incident to AGS.

This is a made up story or incomplete .

Over all the years I worked in hospitals here ,all patients' valuables that were not taken home and signed for by relatives , were stored in hospital safe in a special sealed envelope/ container , with all details including medical record number and what was within recorded on storage envelope/ container and on a record used for the purpose , countersigned by staff placing it there . This would have been countersigned by two members of staff, the patient at the bedside , recorded in patient notes and signed again when returned to patient , and signed for by patient on discharge . This has been policy in any health board / voluntary hospital and HSE as long as I can remember .

This ensures safety and accountability for both patients and staff . Protects against 'claims ' like these .

I don't know where your relative was , but I think they weren't in a public hospital in Ireland .

Personal safes may be available in private rooms in some hospitals but it's not common and usually private hospitals .

Who gives money to an unknown staff member to care for , without signing anything official ?

I think we are being led on here as per this comment …

"Let others be warned, don’t trust the hospital unless you have no other choice."

@BrianD3 Can you tone down the anger please and less of this emotive nonsense ?

Garda vetting is done on all staff . If staff are commencing work without it it's because there aren't enough AGS allocated to the job, especially the seasonal intake of junior doctors which is every July . Nor do they prioritize it over any other vetting , which means that hospitals have the choice of closing, or continuing with some staff that may still be waiting for vetting to come through for a while after they start . I think that link stated roughly 10% out of the total number .

So you think they should close wards or A&E instead ? Bearing in mind that vetting is repeated for some staff every new post.

Also the link you posted is very much out of date and was during COVID Tue, 31 Aug, 2021 .

Was it hard to find a recent link ? ?

I don't know about cash going to a bank but maybe if it was a very large sum ? I would not have been dealing with older people in my time .

Notice how the OP isn't defending the accusation anymore. Telling.

The reality is explained fully in that preadmission leaflet to a public hospital posted earlier.

Staff cannot and will not be responsible for people's personal possessions and people need to either not bring them in or send them home with relatives .

You would want to be a complete eejit to bring and keep valuables it anything you were precious about in a public space where you may not always be alert to possible thieves . And as per the OP to trust a relative's money or valuables to be cared for without following general accepted practice of going to the ward manager to ensure they were either locked away , or taking them to safe keeping yourself is just stupid.

Everyone knows how busy staff are caring for patients in hospital and with the best will in the world it's not possible to be everywhere at once watching people's personal possessions .

A lot of older patients may be suffering from dementia etc. and between that and the stress of the illness that brought them to the hospital they might not be making very rational decisions.