‘Unacceptable’ that extra resources not available for children needing spinal surgery, Donnelly tells CHI board

It is “unacceptable” that additional bed capacity, diagnostics and staffing funded by the Government are not available for children in need of spinal surgery, Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly has told the board of Children’s Health Ireland (CHI).

In a letter to board chairman Dr Jim Browne, the Minister said CHI must ensure that such facilities are “ring-fenced” for the care of children requiring such operations “so that surgeons can work to their full capacity”.

Mr Donnelly also revealed that work was ongoing with the HSE and the National Treatment Purchase Fund to increase spinal surgery capacity “through national and international outsourcing”.

The Minister also rejected warnings raised by the board about his refusal to sanction a further term in office for the former CHI chief executive Eilish Hardiman. He cited Government policy that chief executives should serve no more than two five-year terms.

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In a letter to the Minister on December 24th last, Dr Browne said the board was “surprised and disappointed” that its proposal to reappoint Ms Hardiman had not been accepted.

He said the board believed that stability and continuity of leadership was needed as CHI prepared for the move to the new national children’s hospital. He said it would take months to complete a recruitment process for a new chief executive.

He said the board believed “the lack of continuity of leadership will adversely affect the stability of the executive team and the organisation”.

“The introduction of a new CEO who is not familiar with the project at this critical juncture will, in our view, introduce significant additional risks which will be extremely difficult to mitigate and manage. It will also inevitably create more negative commentary and speculation around the new children’s hospital project which will be damaging to public confidence.”

However, Mr Donnelly told Dr Browne in a letter last month that he was concerned at references to risks that the board feared could be posed by a change in chief executive. “Given the outgoing CEO was coming to the end of a second five-year term, it was incumbent on the board to ensure adequate succession planning,” he said.

The Minister also expressed his concerns about CHI’s management of spinal surgeries.

“We have failed these children repeatedly – and over many years. Substantial financial resources have been allocated by successive governments in order to support CHI in managing and driving down the waiting lists.”

Mr Donnelly said he had been assured by CHI in 2022 that no child would be waiting longer than four months for care, as clinically appropriate, by the end of that year. He said this commitment had not been delivered and that “our failure to deliver significant reductions to the waiting times for spinal surgery is undermining public confidence in CHI”.

“It is clear from my discussions with surgeons and parents that one of the reasons why these children are waiting too long for care is the lack of available theatres and dedicated beds,” he said.

“Given the substantial investment in increasing the diagnostic, bed and workforce capacity, it is unacceptable that the necessary resources are not available for these children.

“The CHI board must ensure that all necessary capacity, including diagnostics, theatre and post-operative care is ring-fenced for the care of these children so that surgeons can work to their full capacity.”

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