TAOISEACH MICHÉAL MARTIN has pushed back against calls for the board of Children’s Health Ireland to be disbanded in response to a damning report on children’s spinal surgeries. 

Martin told the Dáil today that disbanding the board would only lead to more issues and “weaken governance even further”.

Earlier, the Labour Party called for the entire board to go after its chair resigned and apologised yesterday following the publication of Hiqa’s report on the use of unlicensed springs in children’s surgeries at Temple Street Hospital. 

The Hiqa report found that governance changes within Children’s Health Ireland (CHI) meant that a number of policies and safety checks “were not properly applied” in treating the children affected, “resulting in the springs being used inappropriately”. 

Labour leader Ivana Bacik and Social Democrats acting-leader Cian O’Callaghan both raised the issue today during Leaders’ Questions in the Dáil.

Bacik also raised the specific case of  Daniel Collins, a fourteen-year-old boy who is living with severe scoliosis and has been waiting, in pain, for months for surgery.

On the use of unlicensed springs, O’Callaghan noted that the Taoiseach has ruled out a public inquiry and said: 

“Medical experiments were conducted on children in our major pediatric hospital. Corrosive springs were inserted into the bodies of extremely vulnerable children.

“No ethical approval was sought for the use of these springs, and the families did not give informed consent for these procedures.

“This was not an isolated instance.

“The litany of failures raises serious questions about whether Children’s Health Ireland is fit for purpose.”

Asked by Bacik if the CHI board retains his confidence, the Taoiseach said:

“I know some people have called to disband the board, that would not help the situation in any shape or form. That would weaken governance even further and could lead to further difficulties and challenges.”

He added that a board was also necessary to appoint a new chairperson. 

On calls for a public inquiry, the Taoiseach said what happened, as revealed in the Hiqa report, was “wrong” and “incomprehensible”. 

“It is beyond belief that one would insert devices into a child that’s not CE-approved. It’s very hard to comprehend that and it’s not acceptable,” the Taoiseach said. 

He said Ireland needs to “reflect” on whether public inquiries are the best model for dealing with issues like this. 

“Public inquiries are costing millions. Since 1998, half a billion has been spent on inquiries, and there is an ethical question as to whether those resources could be spent or should be targeted for existing services of children living today, right across social healthcare and education services. 

He added that many public inquiries take years and said: “Inevitably, victims of those who seek inquiries don’t get closure from inquiries.”

Pressure building 

In a statement earlier today, Labour health spokesperson Marie Sherlock said that she does not have faith that the board can oversee the significant changes that need to happen to keep children safe in future.

She said that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are seeking to “downplay” the issue as “the actions of a single surgeon”. 

“The care of three children prompted the HIQA report, but on careful analysis of the report, it’s clear that the system failed, and the board failed in its duty.”

Sherlock said it’s not reasonable to have a separate board for CHI, “when the HSE will be compelled to have much greater operational oversight going forward”.

“This duplication does not make sense.”

The comments comes just 24 hours after Sherlock refused to call for the board to resign, stating that she wanted to hear from the health minister as to whether she had confidence in the board.

When asked yesterday why Labour could not formulate its own position on the future of the board, Sherlock said when she speaks to surgeons on the ground, there is a greater degree of confidence in the new CHI CEO.

“We’re not clear at the moment that having a complete change of the board of CHI is going to lead to the necessary changes,’ Sherlock told reporters in Leinster House yesterday morning.

“In fact, we need the board of CHI to own the changes now that need to happen and get on with that work,” she added.

Recommendations

The Hiqa review makes 19 recommendations, including an organisation-wide review of corporate and clinical governance at CHI “to ensure clarity and effective assurance of safe, quality care”. 

The CHI board is also responsible for managing the transition to the new Children’s Hospital building, but Sherlock says she does not have confidence that it can change in line with the extensive Hiqa recommendations. 

Una Keightley of the Spina Bifida advocacy group told RTÉ’s Prime Time that there can’t be confidence that the recommendations will be implemented when past reports weren’t acted on.

The group is calling for a public inquiry into the issues as they believe there is a “gaping hole in the governance and standards across CHI” that one review cannot cover.

The statutory review by Hiqa was commissioned in 2023 after it emerged that non-CE-marked metal springs had been surgically implanted into a number of children who underwent spinal surgery at CHI at Temple Street.

The consultant at the centre of the review was referred to the Irish Medical Council after two serious incidents in children undergoing spinal surgery, including the death of a child. 

The Hiqa review covers the period from November 2018, when the use of the springs was first considered as a possible treatment option for a number of children attending Temple Street, to July 2023, when it was confirmed internally by CHI that the springs implanted into a number of children during spinal surgery, between 2020 and 2022, were not CE marked.