Child arthritis service cut for doctor’s leave

A NATIONAL full-time service for children with a potentially crippling condition is to be reduced to two days from next week when the doctor who oversees it goes on maternity leave.

From the start of November, children with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis attending Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital in Crumlin (OLCHC) will have access to the relevant specialist only on Mondays and Fridays.

Crumlin’s consultant paediatric rheumatologist, Dr Orla Killeen, is due to go on maternity leave and, although a locum post was advertised internationally, not a single candidate applied. A spokesperson for OLCHC confirmed this was the case. Dr Killeen is the only permanent full-time paediatric rheumatologist in the country.