€2.5m children's outpatient department hailed as beacon for waiting-list management

Lorcan Flannery at the official opening of the  Cappagh Kids outpatients department at the National Orthopaedic Hospital, Dublin. Picture: Paul Faith

The official opening of a €2.5 million outpatient department for children at a Dublin hospital has been hailed as a beacon for “how things can be done” when managing waiting lists.

The Cappagh Kids section of the National Orthopaedic Hospital in north Dublin was developed primarily via fundraising and charitable donations and has enjoyed huge success in its first two years.

The unit, which was built within a disused building on the hospital campus, operates as an elective surgery and consultation outpost for Temple Street Children’s Hospital and has seen its paediatric caseload increase exponentially over the past 12 months, with 1,018 outpatient attendances in that time alone.

At the same time, the unit, which began accepting surgical referrals for under-eights last October, has seen its completion statistics for such referrals increase by 400%.

Consultant orthopaedic surgeon at Cappagh and one of the principal driving forces behind the new unit, Dr Connor Green, said the day marked a stepping stone towards greater things rather than the “finish of it all”.

Today is all about acknowledging that when we are given some funding we can turn out results. The message that we would like to go out is that when you invest in Cappagh Hospital you will see the returns

“We have a huge campus here and still more ability to care for kids on this campus,” he said.

Julia Kavanagh, aged 6, from Dublin, at the official opening of the Cappagh Kids outpatients department at the National Orthopaedic Hospital, Dublin. Picture: Paul Faith

Cappagh, which treats children aged two and upwards, had made headlines earlier this year after being granted €1.4m in funding by the Department of Health following a period of campaigning on its ability to make dents in waiting lists should that funding be made available.

“We have exceeded our targets for spina bifida, for scoliosis, and we’re pretty much on target with our other more non-complex surgeries,” said Angela Lee, the hospital’s chief executive.

I would absolutely say that when we get money, we put it to work immediately and we show results.

Dr Green agreed that Cappagh shows “definitely how things can be done”.

“With acute services, there are unpredictable things, bed closures, or infection outbreaks. What we need to focus on is standalone elective centres like this, but we need to be resourced to do it,” he said.

“That’s the spirit of Cappagh,” Minister Anne Rabbitte said.

“I was brought on a whistlestop tour around Cappagh to see where the potential was. The spirit is 'there’s something to be done and we need to do it'. And there’s a role for Government in that; we want to continue the funding,” she said.