THE PUBLIC ACCOUNTS Committee is to recall Children’s Health Ireland (CHI) and the HSE to appear before it. 

The PAC has also called for the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) to appear before it. 

CHI last appeared before the committee last week alongside the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board to give an update on progress on the construction of the National Children’s Hospital.

Sinn Féin TD John Brady, who chairs the PAC, said the recall comes following reports that a CHI consultant allegedly referred patients he was seeing in his public practice to weekend clinics that he was operating separately.

The Sunday Times reported last week on unpublished findings that the consultant breached HSE guidelines with these referrals. 

The consultant was paid €35,800 via the National Treatment Purchase Fund, 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.

Health Minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill said she received the report at 3.30pm on Monday, and that it is very serious.

Speaking on radio earlier this week, she said she is working out the “legal parameters around publishing the report”, adding that she does feel it is important that it is published. 

Sinn Féin TD John Brady, who chairs the committee, said it has asked CHI and the HSE to appear before it. RollingNews.ie RollingNews.ie

In a statement this afternoon, Brady said the public “has a right to expect accountability at every level of our health system, especially where public money and patient care are concerned”.

“This is not just about one consultant – it is about the systems and oversight mechanisms that allowed this to happen,” the PAC chair said. 

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.

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

Three members of the CHI board resigned from their positions following the release of the review into hip surgeries. 

This evening, the Health Minister announced that she has appointed Dr Yvonne Traynor and Anne Carrigy to the CHI board. 

“The strengthening of governance and oversight at CHI will further support the extensive transformation programme, led by CHI CEO Lucy Nugent and her team, as we move to open the state-of-art Children’s Hospital which will be Ireland’s first digital public hospital,” Carroll MacNeill said. 

She said that further appointments relating to vacancies on the board will be made in due course.