Efforts directed at FoI and other requests may compromise ability of HPSC to track new virus variants or outbreaks, HSE survey suggests
Upwards of one-third of staff surveyed for the study said information requests were poorly formulated, already publicly available or inappropriate in tone; 33 per cent described the tone and content of requests as “accusatory, threatening, litigious or political”. Only 3 per cent deemed them appropriate.
Half of those surveyed said they had to generate repetitive or uninformative reports and 40 per cent cited missed deadlines, longer working hours or delayed publication of new reports. Queries over the two years took up more than 300 days of staff time, the equivalent of two staff posts, at a direct cost of over €305,000, it estimates.
“Time spent by HPSC staff on external information requests may compromise the provision and development of up-to-date reports in a timely manner to enable the most appropriate response to emerging public health scenarios, such as emergence of novel variants of concern or outbreaks of other infectious disease.