MINISTER FOR HEALTH Jennifer Carroll MacNeill has said that three members of the Children’s Health Ireland (CHI) board have resigned from their positions following the release of an independent review into children’s hip surgeries at three CHI hospitals. 

The review found that at the Cappagh National Orthopaedic Hospital and the Temple Street Hospital in the majority of cases reviewed, the criteria for performing surgery to treat hip dysplasia on children was not met. 

Speaking on RTÉ’s News at One programme this afternoon, Carroll MacNeill said that “functional governance” is needed in CHI ahead of the opening of the Children’s Hospital, and that she had raised “strong questions about the governance of CHI and its direction towards the future”. 

Another member of the CHI board resigned last week. 

Children’s Health Ireland has been in charge of children’s health services in Ireland since 2019. 

It has been scandal hit over the last year, over the use of unauthorised implants in children’s spinal surgeries, and unwarranted hip surgeries being carried out on children, which was initially reported by The Ditch.

The independent review published last Friday established that in Temple Street, roughly 40% of the surgeries the audit reviewed were indicated to have met the criteria; in Cappagh, 21% were indicated, and in Crumlin, virtually all surgeries fell under the criteria. 

Following its findings, the CEO of CHI Lucy Nugent apologised to “impacted families” who were not offered a “consistent and excellent standard of care”. 

She said that CHI is currently standardising care across all of its sites and that CHI will “act swiftly” and in an “open and transparent” manner to “answer outstanding questions raised by this audit”.

The Sunday Times also reported last week on unpublished findings that a consultant breached HSE guidelines by referring patients he was seeing in his public practice to weekend clinics that he was operating separately.

The consultant was paid €35,800 via the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF), which aims to cut waiting times by paying private practices to treat patients on public waiting lists.

However, a 2021 inquiry found the patients selected had not waited longest, and so did not qualify for the consultant’s appointments.

HSE chief Bernard Gloster said he was “shocked” by the report and “even more shocked because nobody has told me about it”.

Speaking on the radio today, the Health Minister said that the report is very serious, and that she received it yesterday at 3.30pm. 

Carroll MacNeill said that she is working out the “legal parameters around publishing the report”, adding that she does feel it is important that it is published. 

Carroll MacNeill said it raises important issues about the way the scheduling of operations is handled in CHI. She said it also details “toxic behaviours” at CHI Crumlin. 

She said there are also serious questions about the actions of the NTPF.