Pádraig Rice
Cork South-Central · Social Democrats · Ireland
“There is no clinical reason this should not be extended to oral contraceptives. Pharmacists are highly trained healthcare professionals. They should be allowed to operate at the top of their licence. They are available in every community and are very accessible.”
“I welcome the Bill. We spend a lot of time inside these Houses talking about other parts of reproductive healthcare and not enough about contraception, so it is really welcome that we are having a focus and discussion on it and are moving forward with changes.”
“The oral contraceptive pill has been around for well over half a century and is one of the safest and most well-studied medicines available. In 2019, the World Health Organization publicly stated that oral contraception should be available without needing prescription.”
“I move amendment No. 8: In page 5, between lines 20 and 21, to insert the following: “Report on prescription-free oral contraceptives 4. The Minister shall, within six months of the passing of this Act, prepare and lay before Dáil Éireann a report on a proposal to allow registered pharmacists to dispense prescription-free oral contracepti…”
“We are talking about the prescription of oral contraceptives as called for by the World Health Organization, as set out by the Irish Pharmacy Union and as endorsed by the previous health committee. We are looking for a report on that with the detail of the various elements, if more detail is required.”
“It is important that we allow pharmacists to operate at the top of their licence and give them as much power as possible, and alleviate pressures on GPs. As I said, this is recommended by the World Health Organization and endorsed by the previous health committee and the IPU. That is the background to this amendment.”
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“I would like to know the number of clinical directors employed with the health service, where they are based, the number of consultants they are overseeing, and the reporting arrangements in place. A lot of this comes back to clinical governance and that needs to be looked at. I welcome the Minister's interventions over the weekend, particularly the swift action she took on the appointments to the board. That work needs to be commended. From the Social Democrats' perspective, we want answers, not heads. We need to know what happened at CHI. We also have fundamental questions about the purpose of CHI, whether it is needed and what the plan for it is going forward. This is an HSE-funded but not HSE-controlled organisation and there are serious issues there.”
“This morning my party's deputy leader raised the Social Democrat's deep concerns about the situation of clinical directors. These are consultants who have been given the task of supervising their colleagues, and who receive an additional allowance for that work. This was introduced in 2008 to ensure consultants were adhering to their contracts. In 2017 "Prime Time Investigates" revealed that consultants were gaming the system in many ways. At the time, the Social Democrats raised serious concerns about the role of clinical directors. The latest revelation at CHI shows that clinical oversight is still issue. We want to know how these processes were happening under the noses of highly-paid clinical directors. We would like to see that system reviewed.”
“There is also the use of unauthorised springs, and more recently the reports at the weekend around the National Treatment Purchase Fund. I would like to see that published. I would like to know whether there has been a referral to An Garda Síochána. I would like to know also whether there has been a referral to the Medical Council and what actions have taken place on foot of that. The report is deeply disturbing about patients being cherry picked and put on private lists in order to make more money. The lack of oversight there and the lack of awareness by the HSE and the Department of Health in that regard is deeply worrying. With the National Treatment Purchase Fund, we are talking about very large sums of money around €240 million. We must ensure this money is being spent correctly. These reports are deeply worrying.”
“In reading through this report, I struggled to understand this as someone who is not a medic. It would be worthwhile having something that is easier to understand for families and parents issued at the same time. I commend the whistleblower on raising these concerns, and also the parents and families who have been raising the issues. Some of them feel they have not been heard. Over many years they have been raising concerns around CHI and its processes and have felt stonewalled and unheard. That culture needs to change. We know there are serious issues with culture. The HIQA report talks about the issues around culture, governance, the lack of communication, and the lack of oversight. There are many issues that need to be addressed. These are not the only serious concerns that CHI needs to address.”
“What we need to see now is that independent panel established quickly. It is key that there would be independence there for families. They are quite worried about the lack of independence. This needs to be put in place. The report, which I read through more than once, trying to get my head around it, highlights many issues: poor record keeping; the different criteria applying in different hospitals, which is deeply worrying; the lack of oversight; and indications of children having complications. There are many issues that need to be addressed urgently. I suggest to the Minister that in future with these kinds of issues, and particularly those of a real technical and medical nature like this, it would be worthwhile publishing at the same time an easy-to-understand guide for families and having a version that people could understand.”
“Does the Minister trust CHI to take on the running of the national children's hospital? These are just ten of the many questions that I, others and parents have. They are questions we would like to get answers to. As we go through this report and delve through it, there will be more questions that need answers. To that end, in my capacity as the chair of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health, I have invited CHI to come before the committee. I and the other members would expect that to happen quickly and not be delayed. Hopefully, we will have that engagement with it sooner rather than later because we need to get answers to these questions. The report raises really serious concerns around the novel procedure and the serious failings around informed consent and lack of clinical follow up, which was another key issue.”
“Reference was made to a published academic paper but what is that paper based on? Is it based on surgeries that happened before that? We need to know how deep this issue runs. Will there be further investigation to determine how this scandal arose and persisted for so long without anyone in CHI or Cappagh hospital being aware of it? Will the Minister conduct a review of clinical directors? Could children under the care of CHI surgeons in other hospitals be affected? We know that they worked in other hospitals such University Hospital Galway. Crucially, and as referenced by others, has financial incentive been completely ruled out as a motivating factor here? Have any doctors been placed on leave? Are any doctors contesting the findings of this report? Are there any legal proceedings against CHI as result of the scandal?”
“It would be far more beneficial for us and for the families affected if we could pose our questions and get direct answers from the Minister, and have that time for the back and forth direct engagement. There are lots of serious questions that have been raised over the last hour or so and we have not had a chance to hear any answers from the Minister. I ask this in terms of the functioning of the House so that we do our job better for the families and get direct answers to our questions. I have ten questions I would like the Minister, Deputy Carroll MacNeill, to answer in her reply. How long will the external review take? Does the Minister know how far back this issue goes? We know that letters have been dated back to 2010 but does this go back further? Are we looking at something that goes back to the early 2000s?”
“It is really hard to know where to start when it comes to CHI. The report that was published is shocking, disturbing and deeply upsetting for families across the country. It confirms what we have known and what we have said in the House for some time, that unnecessary surgeries took place on children. We know what happened and now we need to know why that happened. I have a list of questions as long as my arm that need to be answered. As a new TD, I do not believe this format of long statements and posing questions without getting direct answers works. I ask the Ceann Comhairle to think about that in the context of the functioning of the House.”
“We should consider offering overtime to testers and offering tests on Sundays, particularly when new testers are coming on board. As my colleague mentioned, consideration should be given to whether people should get a refund if they are waiting longer than the ten-week target set by the Department and committed to last year by the Tánaiste, Deputy Harris. Getting a driving licence should not be so difficult. No one should have to wait for nine months. The current system is clearly not functioning and we need a solid response.”
“I welcome the Department's sanction for additional permanent driving tester contracts and I hope that will bring down the wait times. The problem is that we have been here before. One instructor told me that he had watched time and again as the waiting lists went up from six months to eight months, temporary contracts were introduced, which meant waiting lists went down, but then they went back up again thereafter. It is good that there are permanent contracts now but we must ask why the Department did not see this coming. Why is the Department not constantly hiring driving testers? It seems to be reacting to waiting lists rather than planning ahead. I will propose some solutions. We should extend the testing times, particularly in the summertime when we have more daylight and longer days.”
“The waiting time for the driving test needs to be treated like the emergency it is. The situation is getting worse, not better. As of April, the average wait time for the Wilton driving test centre in Cork was 35 weeks. In March, the relevant figure was 31 weeks. For the test centre in Mallow, the average wait time is 36 weeks, which is nine months. These are not just numbers. They represent thousands of real people across Cork who are stuck in limbo. These are young people seeking independence, people who need to drive for work and apprenticeships, and many others who require a licence to get on with their lives. Somebody said in jest recently that it would be easier to train to become an astronaut than to get a driving licence in Cork at the moment.”
“Next week marks the tenth anniversary of the momentous marriage equality referendum, which was a landmark moment in our social and political history. Today, ILGA-Europe published its report ranking European countries on LGBT human rights and policy protections. Ireland was ranked 14th on that list, which is mid-ranking. There are significant gaps in access to trans healthcare, gaps around hate speech laws, gaps in our equality legislation, a lack of non-binary recognition, gaps in intersex rights and no ban on conversion practices. Will the Taoiseach join the growing call for Ireland to set the goal of being the best place in Europe to be LGBT and will he publish an action plan to reach that goal?”
“While successive Ministers have delayed on the statutory right to home care, private equity providers and real estate investment funds have moved in. How many more of these nursing homes will be allowed before an alternative is put in place? I know the Government accepts that older people should be supported to stay in their homes but this rhetoric must be matched with more action. Expensive private nursing homes cannot be the default option for people. People deserve a right to home care and we need to put the regulations and that statutory right in place.”
“It is taking far too long. The Social Democrats have concerns about the financialisation of elder care. In 2020, at the height of Covid, Simon Harris and Leo Varadkar said the model of care for older people had to change. Since then, the very large-scale commercial nursing home model has increased despite the fact it was deemed to be no longer fit for purpose. Ireland, alongside England, now has the most privatised nursing home system in Europe, with 81% of all nursing home beds in the State being privately run. Of even greater concern is the fact that very large investment funds now hold one third of all nursing home beds in the State. Eight years ago, those firms had virtually no presence here.”
“It has been a year since the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, told the Oireachtas Committee on Health that the delay was due to the funding model. At the time, the Minister of State said the nut had not been cracked on financing the scheme. In February 2025, the Minister for Health told me no final decision on future funding had been made and that further research was under way to enhance the evidence base. Is this still the case? It has been eight years and the Department should have figured it out by now. Political will is needed to get this over the line. What happened to the promise in the wake of the pandemic that an entirely different model of elder care would be provided? The regulations are important but only a statutory right to home care has the potential to deliver a radically different model.”
“My question concerns the statutory right to home care. In 2017, the then Minister for Health, Deputy Simon Harris, said home care needed to be placed on a statutory footing. The same year, the then Minister of State with responsibility for older people, Deputy Helen McEntee, said a statutory right to home care and necessary regulations would be delivered in two to three years. Eight years on, they remain underdelivered. We know the regulations are finally progressing but what is happening with the statutory scheme? Will the Minister of State provide me with an update on the programme for Government commitment to design a statutory home care scheme and the timelines he is working towards?”
“We have huge innovations in the area of HIV - on PrEP, PEP and rapid testing - but I think we are not seizing the moment here. We could potentially end HIV transmissions in this country if we massively invested in this. People are waiting far too long to get access to PrEP clinics. There is a real chance here to have a game-changing moment, and I urge the Minister of State to seize that and increase the investment and access to services. On the online testing, it is fine if people do not have symptoms, but people with symptoms need to go to clinics and need to have clinics in their communities they can access. It is all well and good having access to online tests you can order and do at home, but that does not work for everybody, especially those who have infections.”
“We can also reduce stigma by having public awareness campaigns and challenging negative stereotypes, similar to mental health. We also need better sexual education. This needs leadership, investment and support because this issue has been neglected for far too long.”
“It is great news that the strategy will be launched. I am looking forward to engaging with it and seeing the detail. When I raised this issue last time, the Minister of State talked about how stigma is a big issue and I agree with her on that. Services are also really important, however, and I think we can reduce stigma by having better services and supports for people. We need to make sexual health services everyday, normal and accessible throughout the country. There are currently ten counties in Ireland with no sexual health services. I am surprised this issue is not raised by Deputies across the Dáil, demanding services in their communities. Many of us need access to better sexual health services and it should be an important issue for people.”
“It is ten years since the first sexual health strategy was published. That strategy expired three years ago and has still not been replaced. I raised this issue two months ago in the Dáil and was told it would be launched quite soon. Is the strategy still at design stage or has it been submitted to the Government for approval?”
“People need to have a say in these services and the voice of the people must be crucial in that. It also needs to align with the core principles of Sláintecare, which are community-based and patient-centred because ultimately we are dealing with people's human rights and the right to healthcare because trans rights are human rights.”
“I fundamentally believe that the new model of care must be in line with the WHO guidelines. It must use an informed consent model and be delivered in the community, which is crucial. There are models in place in other countries that we can look to, including in Australia, New Zealand, Iceland, Malta, Canada and parts of the United States. They are already operating this model of care. That is where we need to be looking for best practice. The development of this model of care must be accelerated and crucially, it must be done with engagement with the community, people who are directly affected and their families. To date, that has not happened and relationships between the national gender service and the community are poor and need to be improved.”
“The Minister spoke recently about a framework to think about services with some that are operating well, some that need to be improved and some that are causing harm. I genuinely believe these services are causing harm to people and need to be improved.”
“I thank the Minister. The pace of change is far too slow. This issue has been going on for many years. We need an acceleration and the delivery of high-quality services for people across the country. The current system is operating on an outdated model. As the Minister said, in 2019 the WHO reclassified transgender healthcare as a sexual health issue. Despite this, the services are still being treated here under mental health. Being transgender is not a mental health condition but not having access to these services has an impact on people's mental health. Transgender healthcare services are lifesaving services. In 2013, a Transgender Equality Network Ireland study found that 78% of transgender people had considered suicide, but after they accessed services, that dropped to 4%. These are crucial and lifesaving services.”
“I am deeply concerned about the state of transgender healthcare services. In 2022, Ireland was found to have the worst transgender healthcare services in all of the EU by Transgender Europe, TGEU. The only dedicated gender clinic has approximately 2,000 people on the waiting list. Only 162 were removed last year. Waiting times are between three years and ten years, which is not acceptable. The journal.ie recently published a harrowing report on those services. One patient described feeling traumatised after going to the services. Another said it felt like an interrogation. People are being forced to go online to access hormone replacement therapy, HRT. Has the Minister seen these reports? Will she commit to reclassifying transgender healthcare under sexual health instead of mental health, following the model of the WHO?”
“It is not credible to say there is no timeline for the publication of this audit. Let me ask the Taoiseach for the third time today - when will the audit be published? If he cannot give us a date, will he explain the lack of urgency in dealing with this issue? Will he tell us how deep the rot goes? Are we facing an appalling vista of potentially thousands of children having endured unnecessary hip surgeries over the past 15 years?”
“I first raised the issue of children enduring unnecessary hip surgeries with the Taoiseach in March. It is nearly two months later and we are still none the wiser about what went on. A draft audit of the surgeries in three hospitals between 2021 and 2023 has been in the public domain for months. That audit found a large portion of surgeries in two of those hospitals were potentially unnecessary. There have been repeated questions about the scandal in this Chamber, but no further answers. The Taoiseach cannot even tell us when the final report will be published. Now, we find out that families whose children were operated on up to 15 years ago are receiving letters. This suggests that the draft findings of the audit are going to be upheld, and we are dealing with a scandal of nearly unparalleled proportions.”
“It was very worrying. They conducted a survey of primary school teachers in 2024 and found that two in five felt the school's ethos had impacted on LGBT inclusivity, and one and four said they never teach SPHE or RSE in an LGBT-inclusive way. That is one in four teachers not including a portion of students in their education, and that stems back to the religious ethos and the lack of knowledge among teachers. We need to see real change in that regard. It will be good to see the convention happen and, hopefully, we will get some change.”
“However, even under that new framework, for first and second class, the patrons’ programme is going to get eight hours a month, which in most schools is religious education, whereas science only gets four, so science education is only getting half the time that we are allocating to the religious programme. There are huge issues with regard to the amount of time that is being allocated. We also know that this religious ethos filters through the whole day and it is not just the teaching time. Part of that goes back to the education of teachers. Most teacher education has a very strong religious ethos and there is an issue to look at there as well. One area I care about is that of relationships and sex education. I had members of BeLonG To in Leinster House yesterday and they were talking about some of the research they have done.”
“I think back to my own time in school and the hours spent on things like confession and going to mass. As somebody who is not religious, I sat there thinking this was such a waste of precious school time that could have been used for English, maths or learning other things. It should be done outside of the school day if that is the choice of parents and young people. With regard to the allocation of time, I was talking to a primary school teacher at the weekend who said that at present, the school is spending two and a half hours a week on religious education, an hour on PE and only half an hour on SPHE. A disproportionate amount of time is being allocated. I know that this is subject to change and that there is a new framework.”
“I thank Deputy Cummins for her work on the motion and also over many years on this issue and wider education issues. The pace of change is far too slow. We heard during the week in the audiovisual room from a parent who said, “I wonder if I am doing this for my children or my grandchildren.” That is how frustrated parents are about the pace of change. Across County Cork, there are 350 Catholic schools but only 13 multidenominational schools. There is no real choice or option for parents when there is that level of difference and that lack of choice. I fully support the removal of faith formation from the school day. I was talking to a teacher who said that communion and confirmation erode teaching time and take up a huge amount of the school day.”
“I have three questions for the Tánaiste. Does the Government intend to build a second line connecting the northside of the city to the southern suburbs and the airport? How much has been allocated for this key project? Crucially, when will we see passengers on a Luas in Cork?”
“I also congratulate the students on winning the debating championship. I welcome the emerging preferred route for the Cork Luas, but major questions remain. We do not know how much the Government intends to invest in this crucial project. We do not know if a second north-south route is planned. Crucially, we do not know when the Cork Luas will open. This project cannot be left like the Dublin metro, which has been delayed now by 25 years. There is a history of announcements of key infrastructure projects in Cork that are never delivered. These include the events centre, the new city library and the motorway to Limerick, and I could go on. Time and again, there are big announcements of infrastructure projects that are never delivered for our city. Cork urgently needs better public transport and we need it now.”
“This month's report from HIQA is just more proof that a culture that supports the asking of questions does not exist in CHI. It is time for a major overhaul. In this instance, continuity is not what is called for. If anything, continuity is the very thing that is causing the instability.”
“A 2023 report by experts from Boston Children's Hospital stated CHI "... needed to create a culture where all members of the care team are encouraged and comfortable sharing safety questions and concerns". Nothing to date would suggest there has been any change in the culture. CHI may claim there has been but report after report suggest otherwise. Lessons never seem to be learned. It seems to be system-wide failure after system-wide failure. I wonder where the accountability lies. The Minister mentioned the possibility of changing the legislation that underpins the board. Will we see those changes? Is it possible to amend the legislation? Can the structure around governance be changed? Can that be looked at in a more holistic manner?”
“This, they say, has resulted in numerous occasions where quality-controlled and safe doses of high-risk chemotherapy medication could not be administered to children. To add insult to injury, it was reported it would cost only about €12,500 to ensure the hospital had a more reliable, glitch-free system. That is a barely a drop in the ocean in the context of the overall health budget. I accept this is another reason the new children’s hospital is so urgently needed, but we have to deal with the IT issues in the meantime. It is unsafe and entirely avoidable. I thank the brave whistleblowers who have come forward to expose the mounting problems in CHI. There is an ever-increasing evidence base the culture in CHI is a major factor in the failure of patient care and the poor levels of accountability.”
“On one occasion in Temple Street, a whistleblower stated they witnessed what appeared to be a child’s intestine during a live operation while trying to resolve a medical-grade PC issue to enable the surgeon to see the child’s X-ray. That operation should not have commenced without the visible X-ray on the medical-grade PC. Last Sunday another report stated children’s chemotherapy procedures are being cancelled in Crumlin because of a totally inadequate IT system. According to the whistleblower Crumlin’s chemotherapy department is entirely reliant on Wi-Fi, with no wired connection on site. This has been called a dangerous oversight for a critical department. The whistleblower alleges chemotherapy appointments were routinely being cancelled because the Wi-Fi system is plagued with disconnections.”
“The motion before us also refers to profit, which was initially reported as a possible motive in the The Ditch articles. This is a rather alarming claim and it needs urgent clarification. There is no mention of it in the leaked report. We must know if the potential presence of this motive was assessed in the review and if not, then why not. I wish to raise another set of allegations that have been levelled at CHI. I am sure the Minister has seen the reports in the Mail on Sunday regarding CHI’s IT failures. Just two weeks ago it reported surgeons had commenced operations on children without the help of vital X-rays to guide them on a number of occasions. According to the whistleblower, IT workers had to be summoned into theatre midway through operations on children and in one instance a pregnant woman.”
“This girl narrowly missed an unnecessary surgery and I wonder how many children were not so lucky. Another parent contacted me recently to say they were shocked at the findings. They described the day of the surgery as a day they would never forget and that their child would never forget. To think that many may not have needed the surgery makes me sick to my stomach. They spoke also about how they put their faith in professionals. On the scope of this review, the Social Democrats fully support the motion’s call to conduct a more extensive review of surgical practices at CHI. The scope of the current review is too narrow and must be widened. How many parents, over the years, understandably accepted the advice of surgeons or simply were not in a position to seek a second opinion?”
“It also echoes the findings of the recent HIQA report into the use of unauthorised springs that found procedures were not standardised across CHI sites. Again and again we see the same issues in CHI, but nothing seems to change. Another parent whose child’s case has already been raised on the floor of the House was in touch with me recently. His daughter was a patient in Temple Street in 2016 and the parents were told she required hip surgery despite the lack of symptoms. The surgery they were told she would need involved sawing into her hip bone and reshaping the socket to hold the ball in the joint more securely. Fortunately, this girl’s parents sought a second opinion north of the Border and the second consultant found there was no need for the surgery. This is a really horrifying case.”
“Last month The Ditch published a leaked draft of the audit that measured each case against the indicators normally required for surgeries to go ahead. In total 147 children’s cases under the care of 14 surgeons were audited between 2021 and 2023. According to The Ditch , a staggering 79% of cases in Cappagh did not meet the required threshold for surgery. In Temple Street it was 60% while in Crumlin it was just 2%. Since these findings were published last month a number of parents have contacted me to express their deep concerns about their children’s surgeries. A parent said she received a letter from CHI stating Crumlin, Temple Street and Cappagh may have been using different criteria to determine whether surgery was required. Given the audit results leaked last month that would certainly appear to be the case.”
“I thank Sinn Féin for bringing forward this motion, which provides Members with another opportunity to raise our concerns about the yet-to-be published audit into hip surgeries at CHI as well as the long-standing failures in the organisation. I first raised the issue of hip surgeries with the Taoiseach on 1 March yet almost two months later we still have no more information. Were it not for the reports in The Ditch we would still be in the dark about the latest scandal at Children’s Health Ireland. Last July The Ditch reported CHI was conducting an audit into hip surgeries at three hospitals following a whistleblower’s claims unnecessary surgeries were being carried out on children. The report said the audit was due to be completed in the autumn of last year, but as we enter the summer parents are still anxiously awaiting its publication.”
“We have to ensure the best governance and standards and the right staff and culture in an organisation that will be critical for the next number of decades. It needs greater consideration. The health committee could examine this issue in more detail and bring CHI before it once we get up and running. I thank the Minister for the time and space to discuss the issue.”
“Does she have faith it will run this hospital well? There are serious questions in that regard. We need to consider this issue, given the litany of failures, all of the scandals and the cultural issues set out in report after report spanning years, with more to come. We need to give serious consideration to this matter. It is clear that children and families have been let down time and again. There are serious issues. I do not feel reassured that more will not be exposed. There are pending reports. We have concerns about the best operation of the new children's hospital. We have to get this right. It has to be done well. It is a huge investment. It is so important for the children of Ireland, patients and sick children.”
“It needs to be addressed and discussed further. Like others, I have concerns about the National Children's Hospital and CHI into the future. There are serious questions about the governance of CHI and its ability to manage the hospital safely. This critical infrastructure has come at huge cost, which more than doubled from €987 million in 2017 to approximately €2.2 billion. The keys must be put in a safe pair of hands. We have seen multiple controversies, including long waiting times for scoliosis surgeries, delays in appointing a new chief executive, concerns about money earmarked for scoliosis surgery being spent elsewhere and a lack of preparedness for the new hospital on many fronts. Two more reports are to be published on CHI. We still have concerns about workforce planning and guarantees. Does the Minister still have faith in CHI?”
“Some 48 of those children have been waiting for more than six months, a 33% increase since December. The previous Minister for Health promised that no more than 20 children would wait more than four months for spinal surgery by the end of 2024 as a result of new initiatives such as surgeries abroad. Surgeries abroad do not suit everybody, particularly in more complicated cases. There is concern that some complicated cases are being left to get worse. In a reply to a parliamentary question I submitted, CHI set out that nine children had surgeries suspended for clinical reasons. Of those, four had been suspended for more than 18 months. Will the Minister shed some light on these cases? Why are children's surgeries being suspended for such long periods? There is concern among advocates and families about those complicated cases.”
“Despite being commissioned in September 2023, there is still no definite timeline for the completion of the second review. Parents are still receiving letters telling them their children's cases will be included in the review. The 19 recommendations in the HIQA report must be implemented by CHI and the HSE. I would like to see a timeline for the remaining actions. The Minister said many had been done but I would like to see them set out. The failings in that regard are by no means historical. They are live and real. It is important to keep an eye on the number of children waiting. CHI's active spinal surgery waiting list increased month on month from 108 in December to 137 at the end of last month. I agree with the Minister; it is about the length of time people are waiting, not necessarily the number.”
“According to the HIQA findings, the non-alloyed springs used in those surgeries were known to corrode in the presence of moisture and there is very limited information available on their use or the risks of those used for implantation. These springs should never have even made it into the surgical theatre, let alone the bodies of children. How was this allowed to happen? Where are the ethical safeguards? It is clear these children have been utterly failed. HIQA found the arrangements in place for the use of medical devices and surgical implants were not standardised across CHI and there were unclear lines of reporting and accountability. The report also found that culture and communication continue to be major issues across CHI, which has been reviewed in great detail in its external review of spinal surgery.”
“Parents and their families should not feel sidelined and ignored. If we are to have a truly child-centric approach, children's views and concerns must be taken on board. Parents I have met describe the constant battle, the toll it takes on their wider families and the real impact it has on them. There are serious issues in the culture and operation of CHI and how it interacts with families. I think the Minister mentioned that in terms of communications. There are deep concerns. That takes us to the HIQA report, the latest in a litany of reports detailing the failures of CHI and the impact on vulnerable children. The HIQA report sets out the serious failures in governance, oversight and communications. As we know, three children had unauthorised springs implanted in their spines.”