Taoiseach rules out statutory inquiry into poor outcomes of orthopaedic surgeries at Temple Street

The Government has ruled out holding a statutory inquiry into concerns about orthopaedic surgeries at Temple Street children’s hospital.

The service was engulfed in controversy in September when a review revealed poor outcomes for complex spinal surgery, including a high level of post-operative complications and infections, and two “particularly serious surgical incidents” last year.

The consultant who carried out the surgeries has stopped operating on children and has been referred to the Medical Council.

The Health Service Executive set up an external review but a number of patient groups have called for a statutory inquiry instead. Two of the four groups are boycotting the external review by a UK expert.

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The Scoliosis Advocacy Network and the Spina Bifida & Hydrocephalus Paediatric Advocacy Group said they have lost confidence in Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly and the HSE to resolve the current “catastrophe” in children’s spinal surgeries.

Speaking in September, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar expressed great concern at the findings and suggested there may have been a wider failure of clinical governance.

The HSE-appointed expert, Selvadurai Nayagam, has begun his work, meeting Mr Varadkar and Mr Donnelly and two of the four advocacy groups that are not boycotting the review. In the last two weeks Mr Nayagam has also met some of the 17 families directly affected by the high complication rate arising from the surgeon’s work.

Asked whether the Government intended to hold a statutory inquiry into the issue, Mr Varadkar’s department said the reviews under way at Temple Street “are understandably a cause of great anxiety for patients and families attending these services”.

The review process has commenced, and Mr Nayagam has begun meeting families, patient representatives and other stakeholders, a spokesman said to The Irish Times.

He said: “While not ruling out the possibility, it is not intended to hold a statutory inquiry at this time.”

Mr Nayagam is expected to look more widely at the problems encountered by children requiring orthopaedic surgery at CHI sites, including Temple Street and Crumlin children’s hospitals.

Hundreds of children requiring time-sensitive surgery for scoliosis and other spinal conditions have had their treatment delayed due to a lack of staff and operating theatres, among other reasons. Despite heavy investment, a Government promise that no child would have to wait more than four months for urgent surgery has not been fulfilled.