Four CHI board members resign amid controversy over unnecessary hip surgeries

Resignations follow an audit revealing high rates of unnecessary hip surgeries and renewed concerns over CHI governance

The resignations come one week after an audit of CHI identified that many children underwent “unnecessary” hip surgeries in two Dublin hospitals.

Four members of the Children's Health Ireland (CHI) board have resigned, the health minister has confirmed.

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill said three of the resignations — Dr Gavin Lavery, Brigid McManus and Catherine Guy — occurred on Tuesday morning, while Mary Cryan stood down last week.

She today updated Cabinet on the actions taken to improve the governance of CHI and the National Orthopaedic Hospital Cappagh (NOHC) following last week's clinic audit report on hip surgeries.

Ms Carroll MacNeill said HSE chief Bernard Gloster has agreed to respond to the report and its implications within the next week. She will also update on the appointment of two HSE board members to the CHI board as well as a strengthening of the Service Level Agreement between the HSE and CHI.

Ms Carroll MacNeill said that she had "strong questions about the governance of CHI and its direction towards the future" and that there had been three resignations from the board this morning.

"We need to have a functional governance structure to enable us to get to the opening of the Children's Hospital and to deal with the many issues in children's health," she told RTÉ Radio One.

Ms Carroll MacNeill said she was not empowered by law to ask for the resignations. She said there were now seven people on the CHI board, including two she appointed over the weekend from the HSE board.

“There are seven people on it that were appointed in 2025 or in 2024. There are now three additional vacancies, and I will be looking to make similar appointments over the next number of days.”

The resignations follow a shocking audit, published last Friday, which showed 79% of hip dysplasia surgeries at the National Orthopaedic Hospital, Cappagh, and 60% in CHI at Temple St did not meet the required criteria.

A six-month process of review has begun for more than 2,200 children.

Only 2% of surgeries carried out at CHI at Crumlin did not meet the criteria set out during the look-back audit. However, at CHI at Temple Street, around 60% did not meet the criteria, and 79% of those performed at the NOHC also failed to meet the retrospectively applied standards.

In one of the 147 cases reviewed, the audit revealed that a child had suffered complications following the surgery.

It also raises concerns about potential long-term issues for children who may have undergone unnecessary procedures.

Last month, chairman of the board Dr Jim Browne resigned in the wake of a scathing Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) report on the use of non-medical devices at one of the hospitals.

The Hiqa report found the use of metal springs during spinal surgery on children in CHI at Temple Street Hospital was “wrong”.  It found that non-CE-marked springs were implanted into three children between 2020 and 2022.

Dr Browne apologised to the “children, young people and families that have been failed by the care they received, following the release of the Hiqa report” in April.

Opposition TDs have called for a public inquiry and for CHI to be fully subsumed into the HSE. The CHI hospital group is a distinct entity from the HSE, although it is funded by the HSE and accountable to it.

CHI has been contacted for comment.