Tánaiste defends Health Minister as Opposition TDs call on him to return amid spinal surgeries 'scandal'

Health Minister Stephen Donnelly is currently attending the UN in New York. File photo: Sasko Lazarov / © RollingNews.ie

The Tánaiste has strongly defended Stephen Donnelly for travelling to New York amid a “national scandal” concerning spinal surgeries.

The Health Minister's decision to travel to the UN to attend events on pandemic preparedness has been criticised by members of the Opposition in the Dáil on Wednesday.

It comes as the HSE ordered an external review of orthopaedic surgery at Temple Street Hospital following several “serious spinal surgical incidents”.

One child has died among a group of 19 who faced several issues. A consultant surgeon at the centre of the controversy has been suspended. Health Minister Stephen Donnelly is currently attending the UN in New York.

Social Democrats TD and health spokesperson Róisín Shortall described the controversy as a “national scandal”. She said many extremely medically challenged children have been “utterly failed” by the State in terms of not receiving life-altering care after surgeries have been suspended in their entirety.

“I'm calling on the Minister of Health to return from New York and to come into the Dáil tomorrow to make a full and comprehensive statement on this scandal and to take questions,” she said.

Ms Shortall also called for the two previous reports to be published immediately and  for the HSE to make a statement as a huge number of families have been left in “awful circumstances”.

Labour Party leader Ivana Bacik echoed Ms Shortall’s call saying it is “essential” that Mr Donnelly return to address the Dáil. “It's simply not good enough for the health minister to be abroad on a day like today,” she said.

Ms Bacik said impacted parents are experiencing distress and heartbreak, calling for them to be “closely informed” going forward.

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She said despite then-health minister Simon Harris five years ago saying he would ensure no child would wait longer than four months for scoliosis surgery, “we're seeing really terrible waiting lists.” 

People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy said the key issue of the controversy is the use of unauthorised implants. He welcomed the fact that the external review is being broadened to examine issues of governance, however he said the review should have input from a spinal surgery expert.

“We need to get a reassurance that there is going to be a spine surgeon involved in the external review, who is going to be capable of going through the patient records and identifying were patients treated appropriately,” he said.

Mr Murphy said it is “absolutely essential” that the voices of the patients and their families are at the centre of the review.

He said there are “very serious questions for CHI” in terms of how the previous internal and external reviews were conducted. He claimed these reviews “missed key points” including the use of unauthorised implants.

Echoing the calls of other opposition TDs, Mr Murphy said the health minister must “engage” with the controversy. “I think he needs to come before the Dáil as soon as possible to explain how this happened and to explain his knowledge,” he said.

However, speaking in NewYork, Micheál Martin has dubbed the criticism "unfair" and said TDs should not be "playing politics" on such an important issue.

"To be fair to members of the Opposition, I would acknowledge that it’s a matter of interest or concern to them. But it's not good, I think, juxtaposing his presence at a summit here with the implied suggestion that means the Minister isn't attending to the issue. I think it's unfair," he said.

I don't think we should play politics with this issue because it's a very serious issue.

He said Mr Donnelly has acted in ordering an external review, which is he said is "very important because it's particularly concerning to the parents of the children involved here".

"We have to ensure that the full truth emerges with that comprehensive review, and that we do justice by the parents and by the children. That's the most overriding consideration. And I think the minister has acted on that and his presence at the summit today doesn't detract from that action. That would be my perspective."

In a statement, Mr Donnelly said his first priority is to ensure that patient safety concerns are comprehensively addressed. Mr Donnelly said the service remains “far short of where we would all like it to be, despite the very genuine efforts of successive ministers and others over the years”.

He said the review, which will be led by orthopedic consultant Selvadurai Nayagam, will “very deliberately” allow for a wider look at governance and other operational matters across the CHI service. “I will be meeting with Mr Nayagam shortly to discuss some of the concerns relayed to me by parents and patient advocates,” he said.

Mr Martin is in New York at the UN with Mr Donnelly, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Green Party leader Eamon Ryan. 

He said: "There are three very important health summits here on pandemic preparedness and let's be clear, we went through a once-in-a-century pandemic in the last three years.

"I think an Irish Minister should be at those. We've always taken leadership positions in terms of public health initiatives; I would have been invited myself as a former Minister for Health in respect of the tobacco-free society approach and it led to a treaty on tobacco quite a number of years ago with Ireland played a leading role in drafting that treaty.

"So we can’t resile from our international commitments because they do have impact ultimately on public health more generally."