Hospital chief expected to say spinal surgery care reviews confirmed their worst fears

CHI last week published two reviews of spinal surgery care for children with spina bifida in CHI at Temple St, but a further series of reviews and planned reviews have since also been announced. Photo: Sasko Lazarov/RollingNews.ie

The CEO of Children’s Health Ireland is expected to say reviews of care at Temple Street Hospital showed what they had feared on setting up the investigations when she addresses the Oireachtas Health Committee on Thursday afternoon.

Eilish Hardiman and three other senior staff will discuss the serious safety concerns revealed by these reviews and other ongoing plans to have a HSE-commissioned external review examine spinal surgery in CHI at Temple St.

She is expected to say the children whose care was examined did not receive the level of care they were entitled to from the hospital. Ms Hardiman is also expected to apologise to families, repeating an apology issued by other staff since the controversy broke.

The committee expects to hear the CEO discuss the 19 cases where care has been reviewed, including the death of little girl. It is believed she will say this girl’s death is the subject of a coroner’s review and is also the subject of a Serious Incident Investigation.

The girl’s parents went public last week with their concerns, saying the death of Dollceanna Carter, 10, left them bereft and they have been broken by revelations in the reviews which have been published.

CHI last week published two reviews of spinal surgery care for children with spina bifida in CHI at Temple St, but a further series of reviews and planned reviews have since also been announced.

Ms Hardiman is expected to answer questions on findings from the Temple St reviews including a higher-than-expected rate of unplanned follow-on surgeries.

She is also expected to face questioning on the use of three unapproved medical devices, springs, which were used in the treatment of three children at Temple St.

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A separate review of spinal surgery for these children in CHI at Crumlin was also published on Thursday morning, although management said they were reassured by these findings which did not indicate serious failings of care.

Ms Hardiman will be accompanied by Dr Allan Goldman, Chief Medical Officer, Ms Paula Kelly, Clinical Director and Paediatric Orthopaedic Consultant and by Dr Ike Okafor, Clinical Director and Consultant in Paediatric Emergency Medicine.

The management team are expected to remind everyone how busy the hospitals are, with over 153,000 emergency department attendances, around 26,000 day cases, 23,000 inpatient admissions and over 15,500 theatre procedures every year.

The Oireachtas Health Committee hearing takes place at 1.30pm on Thursday afternoon, and can be watched on Oireachtas TV.