Parents go abroad for answers Government won't give them about children’s hip surgery, Dáil hears

Sinn Féin TD Pearse Doherty: 'Children as young as one have had their hips opened up, cutting into their bones. They have had to learn to walk again.' Picture: Sm Boal/Collins

Parents are travelling to London and America in search of the answers they are not getting from the Government about their child’s hip surgery, the Dáil has heard.

Pearse Doherty said frustrated and anxious parents are “no longer waiting for the Government” and are seeking second opinions to find out whether their child’s surgery was carried out unnecessarily.

The Sinn Féin TD spoke of one mother who became immediately concerned about the two surgeries her daughter had undergone after she received one of the 2,260 letters sent out to families around the country.

“She sent 30 emails over a period of five weeks to Children’s Health Ireland [CHI] without one response. Only when she got her solicitor involved did she get a response,” Mr Doherty said.

The mother sought a second medical opinion and is now sure that her child’s first hip operation was premature at best and the second surgery not required at all, he said. He added: 

Let it sink in for a moment what that means: Children as young as one have had their hips opened up, cutting into their bones. They have had to learn to walk again. 

“They have been left with scars for life and now to find out that these surgeries may have been unnecessary.”

He said this mother and all of the families awaiting clarity on this matter are deeply frustrated with the lack of answers and trust in the process has broken down.

Mr Doherty called on the Government to guarantee that all 2,260 families will have access to an independent clinical assessment that will provide them with the answer on whether or not their child was operated on unnecessarily.

Education minister Helen McEntee said for those families who have not already had follow-on engagement there is “a very clear commitment” that engagement and consultation would happen immediately.

However, Ms McEntee said that, in order to understand how to move forward and what medical support and assistance is required, they need to ascertain all of the facts and this will not be the case until the final audit is published.

Social Democrats TD Cian O’Callaghan said this is unacceptable and questioned why families are being “kept in the dark” until the audit is published when the health minister has already taken measures on foot of the draft audit.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin said the audit is expected to be delivered by the end of next week but Ms McEntee was unable to give a date for when families could expect to have access to it.