Children ‘at risk’ at paediatric hospital because of waiting times for surgery

OUR worst fears about cutbacks at the state’s largest paediatric hospital putting children at risk are coming true, a patients’ campaign group has said.

A consultant paediatric cardiologist at Our Lady’s Hospital for Sick Children in Crumlin, Dublin, has warned that children were at risk because of increasing waiting times for cardiac surgery.

Dr Paul Oslizlok, who is also president of the Irish Hospital Consultants Association, said heart operations were being cancelled on a weekly basis because of a lack of intensive care beds.

Teresa Shallow, co-founder of Save Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital Campaign, said no child should be left waiting for a critical operation because of a funding shortage.

“If the funds are not put into the hospital we will see another case where a child dies because there are no beds in intensive care for them,” she said.

Dr Oslizlok said waiting times for surgery that had been reduced to below three months were back up to six months again and this was too long for many children.

He warned that there could be another case like Limerick toddler, Roisín Ruddle, who died in 2003 after being sent home by the hospital, if no action was taken. Her surgery had been cancelled due to a shortage of intensive care nurses.

Ms Shallow said parents with children needing cardiac surgery had complained that the hospital’s intensive care unit was coming under pressure because one of the wards had been closed.

The HSE said it was working with paediatric hospitals to improve critical care services pending the opening of the new national paediatric hospital.

A paediatric critical care network had been established with additional service pressure funding allocated this year to “advance” additional consultant posts that would be in place early next year.

The authority was also working with Our Lady’s Hospital to improve facilities in advance of the opening of the new national paediatric hospital.