A draft audit report into 561 hip surgeries on children since 2021 found 79% of the surgeries at Cappagh hospital and 60% at Temple Street “did not meet the threshold for surgery”.

Sinn Féin TD Pearse Doherty has raised this issue in the Dáil and told Newstalk Breakfast an audit was required after a whistle-blower made a “protected disclosure”.

“The background to the story is as I understand it is a whistle-blower came forward within the CHI network, they made a protected disclosure and there was then audit required,” he said.

“An NHS consultant was appointed, I think there was difficulty for the first one that resigned, there was another one then appointed to carry out an audit of the three sites, basically, Crumlin, Temple Street and Cappagh hospital.

“They first came into the public domain last July, and while the final audit report has not been released, a draft report has been released by The Ditch website.

“In the last number of days weeks, parents have started to get letters letting them know that an audit was carried out and that their children are now being recalled for what they're calling a routine follow up.”

Deputy Doherty has had some parents in contact with him.

“One parent who was in contact with one of her TDs on receipt of the letter is asking the questions, telling us that they're seriously concerned,” he said.

“She mentioned that she's sick to her stomach [with] the thought that her young four-year-old, a wee girl born prematurely and had complications at birth, and now [she is] really, really concerned that this child went through an operation that is quite serious, that may not have been warranted.

“79% of the operations in Cappagh didn't meet the threshold, neither did 60% in Temple Street.

“We have another parent who was told that both hips had to be operated on the child, they were very concerned, they contacted us and they said that they went for a second opinion privately and the consultant told them that not only does she not need either hip operated on, she doesn't even have the condition.”

Sinn Féin Finance Spokesperson Pearse Doherty outside the Department of Finance, 25-09-2024. Image: Leah Farrell/RollingNews

Children’s Health Ireland issued a statement regarding the draft audit report, saying: “Children’s Health Ireland (CHI) and the National Orthopaedic Hospital Cappagh (NOHC) confirmed in July 2024 that they would undertake a joint clinical audit to look at a random and anonymised sample of DDH surgeries performed during the 2021-2023 period after a concern was reported that the threshold criteria being used for surgical intervention in relation to DDH may have been different across CHI sites and NOHC.

“The audit is being conducted by a UK paediatric orthopaedic consultant with specialist expertise in this area.

“The audit is not yet complete, and so we cannot provide any details of its findings, and we cannot comment on any media reports in relation to the audit, as to do so would undermine the integrity of the audit process.

“We will ensure our patients, and their families are kept informed as we move through this process, and will share findings of the audit once completed. In the meantime, we will be corresponding with families as appropriate.”

CHI and NOHC have said they are committed to “improving access to quality care across our services and regularly undertake quality assurance checks in line with HSE standards”.

Hospital ward, © PA Wire/PA Images