The external review into orthopaedic surgery at Temple Street Hospital needs to happen "as quickly as possible," Sinn Féin's Health Spokesperson has said.
Yesterday, the HSE announced that it had commissioned an external review into orthopaedic surgery at Children’s Health Ireland (CHI) at Temple Street following a number of “serious spinal surgical incidents”.
The HSE has appointed a UK expert to lead an external review of the clinical care provided by one consultant, who is currently not conducting surgeries.
It's emerged 19 children suffered significant complications after surgery, with senior hospital management made aware of patient safety concerns in late 2022.
On Newstalk Breakfast, Deputy David Cullinane said the surgery complications must have been "traumatic" for the families involved.
"Our main priority has to be to ensure that each and every child, and each and every one of those families is fully supported by the HSE and by Government," he said.
"Obviously, there are a range of emotions I would imagine what those children and families are going through; there will be obviously health needs and emotional support which will need to be given to all of those families, and that has to happen as quickly as possible.
"People will ask the questions that will need to be answered and those questions will have to be answered as quickly as possible through the external review and investigation which has now been commissioned."
'Crucial'
Deputy Cullinane said one of the questions to be answered is how long the consultant was carrying out procedures at the hospital.
"How was something like this missed for so long?" he said
"We have clinical governance arrangements in hospitals, obviously.
"I don't want to apportion any blame at this point because we have to allow the external investigator to carry out those investigations as quickly as possible.
"I'm making a more broader point that that question is an obvious one, and one that will have to be asked."
Supports
Deputy Cullinane said there are advocacy groups that are concerned about how long it took for information to be shared with families.
"I think to be fair, I don't have all of the facts either so I think the first thing that has to happen is that those families need to be at the centre of anything that we do and because this is very traumatic, I don't want to say anything that adds to that trauma," he said.
"There is a broader point to be made and that has been made by families who have had to wait for so long for treatment for children with spinal bifida and scoliosis.
"We've had many problems in this area over many years in terms of waiting times, but obviously this was different because it's calling into question the quality of the procedures carried out.
"What we need to be looking at now is as services are still temporarily suspended in Temple Street, obviously that pressure has to be picked up now in Crumlin and in Cappagh."
Outsourcing
In 2017, former Minister for Health Simon Harris put a plan in place to outsource some procedures in specialist clinics in Germany and England to reduce children's wait times.
"For some reason – and this was before COVID – that outsourcing has stopped, and families and children were no longer given the option of having treatment abroad and it's not ideal," Deputy Cullinane said.
"I think given now that we have a drop in capacity again and already there has been long wait times for children, I think that issue of offering treatment abroad now has to be put on the table again very, very quickly."
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