CHILDREN AS YOUNG as one years old had their “hips opened up, cutting into their bones” only to find out that these surgeries may have been unnecessary, Sinn Féin’s Pearse Doherty told the Dáil today.

Speaking during Leaders’ Questions about the hip surgeries carried out on children, which has dominated much Dáil debate this week, Doherty said the draft audit report into the surgeries over a two-year period states that 60% of surgeries in one hospital and 80% of surgeries in another hospital were unnecessary.

“Just let that sink in. Let it sink in for a moment,” Doherty said to Education Minister Helen McEntee, who was sitting in for Leaders’ Questions today.

Information was published yesterday to reveal that 2,200 letters have been sent to parents of children who underwent hip dysplasia surgery, offering them routine follow-up appointments. 

Children’s Health Ireland (CHI) and the National Orthopaedic Hospital Cappagh (NOHC) in Dublin confirmed that these appointments are scheduled to take place in the coming months.

A total of 1,757 letters were sent by CHI to parents of children who had the surgery at Temple Street and Crumlin hospitals. The NOHC has sent 503 letters.

It followed lengthy Dáil debates in recent days over claims by the opposition that the government is “stonewalling” parents and leaving them “in the dark” over an audit of the surgeries.

Politicians repeated their calls today for clarity on when an independent review into hip surgeries conducted on children, who had developmental dysplasia of the hip, will be published. 

McEntee told the Dáil that the health minister expects to receive the audit report next week. 

The audit was announced last year following new claims that the operation rate in Ireland was five to 10 times higher than in other countries.

Hip dysplasia is the medical term for a hip socket that doesn’t fully cover the ball portion of the upper thigh bone. This allows the hip joint to become partially or completely dislocated.

An anonymised sample of the hip surgeries, between 2021 and 2023, has been taken for the audit using operations that took place at CHI hospital sites, as well as the NOHC.

30 emails sent by one mother

Doherty spoke about the experience of one mother he spoke to this morning.

He said in 2015 she brought her little girl, who was two years of age, for surgery on her right hip. It was the only hip that was ever mentioned in all of the assessments as having an issue, he explained.

“After the operation, she was told that she needed surgery on the other hip as well. She described feeling like a rabbit on the headlights,” said Doherty. 

After five weeks, her daughter had the second operation.

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“Now this letter dropped in her letterbox seven weeks ago. She was immediately concerned. She sent 30 emails over a period of five weeks to CHI without one response. Only when she got her solicitor involved did she get a response,” said Doherty. 

The Sinn Féin deputy said parents are extremely anxious and are being left in the dark on the issue. 

McEntee, in her response, said everyone is “extremely concerned” with the possibility that any child would have surgery where it was not necessary. 

She said the most important thing is to ascertain the facts, stating that is why the review was launched. “I appreciate we all want to know the facts as quickly as possible, but we don’t have those yet. And I know you’re pointing to and making reference to parts of the report. The report hasn’t been published,” she said. 

The reason CHI sent out letters to families was to make sure that engagement starts immediately, the minister explained, stating that they didn’t want to wait for the report’s publication before engagement began. 

The minister said it is important to assure families whose children are undergoing surgeries currently that they know their children do need the surgery.

She said there are now revised procedures and protocols in place, where all surgeries are being assessed by a multi-disciplinary team before any decision has been taken about surgery.