The Aontú Leader Peadar Tóibín TD today questioned the Taoiseach during Leader’s Questions in the Dáil in relation to the CHI hip surgeries scandal.
Speaking in the Dáil Deputy Tóibín said: “In Ireland because of the dysfunction in the Health Service so many parents battle every day to get the health treatments that their children need. For many, many people the development of their child is significantly damaged due to long waiting times for operations. But underfunding and long waiting times are not the only dysfunction within the health service. Incredibly, incredibly many children have undergone significant hip surgery without meeting the threshold for that surgery. Incredibly Some children had unwarranted hip surgeries carried out, despite not even having developmental dysplasia of the hip. Children undergoing serious surgery while not needing corrective surgery in the first place. I understand that the current audit focuses on just 2 years, that this involves 561 people. Given that timeline a 15 year audit could well involve 4,000 people”
Deputy Tóibín continued: “I had to leave a child in an operating theatre myself when he was very young. The procedure was far more minor compared the magnitude of hip surgery, but I can remember the fear in my son eyes as a left the operating theatre. I can remember how hard it was for me to leave that operating theatre. I can only imagine the fury that I would have felt if the I knew that I was entrusting by child to people who do not know what they were doing. Who were potentially doing damage to my child. With all serious operations are there dangers. Infection and surgical trauma are possible. It is possible that there could be long-term impact for certain children. Putting anyone under aesthetic is a serious issue. Today there are potentially thousands of parents now in Limbo. For thousands of parents there is an excruciating lack of information. Families are in a desperate search for answers”.
“How did this happen? How can hospitals carry out a particular operations at a rate of 5 to 10 times the numbers that should be typical for the population. How did no one notice. What was the governance structure that allowed this? Who was in leadership in those particular hospitals. What is the culture that facilitates this and where was CHI and the Ministers for Health? The Dept of Health is responsible for this. If the normal checks and balance did not pick this up, how do you know if the service as currently delivered is safe? How can parents be confident today? If the audit that is being undertaken is to find out what went wrong in, order that it doesn’t happen again, surely there is an urgency to compete the audit? When will parents be told what is happening?” concluded Tóibín.
