THE HSE HAS widened a review into a surgeon who performed spinal surgeries on children at Temple Street Children’s Hospital to cover more surgeries performed by the consultant.

The review into the use of unlicensed springs in surgeries at Temple Street in Dublin was commissioned in 2023.

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 that of a child who has since died.

The independent expert conducting the external review commissioned by the HSE, Selvadurai Nayagam, has completed the first phase of his review, which was a risk assessment.

Nayagam is a retired consultant in orthopaedics and trauma and was head of the Limb Reconstruction Unit at the Royal Liverpool University and Royal Liverpool Children’s Hospitals.

As part of this first phase, Nayagam reviewed the care provided to a sample of 91 children whose surgery was carried out by the consultant.

He has recommended that 62 of these children receive further clinical follow-up, and the families of those children have been contacted.

Nayagam considered that the remaining children whose cases he reviewed did not require additional clinical follow-up arising from his work. 

The HSE states that these follow-up appointments “do not arise from any identified urgent risk or concern about individual patients but are intended to check on the patients’ clinical progress”. 

The HSE has now decided to carry out a wider look-back at the consultant’s practice. 

This will involve a review of the patients on whom the consultant performed surgeries between 2016 and 2023. 

It will include all spinal, limb reconstruction and surgical dislocation of the hip, but not surgeries in the area of trauma and general orthopaedics.

The HSE said that details of how this look-back will be implemented are “under consideration”.

Lucy Nugent, chief executive of Children’s Health Ireland, said: “I know that news like this will understandably cause worry and concern for families, and I want to acknowledge that sincerely.

“CHI and our current 16 consultant orthopaedic surgeons are fully committed to supporting every element of the look-back process and to being open and transparent with families throughout.”

Supports are available for families who have been contacted, and they have been provided with a dedicated telephone number.

Phase 1 of the review

Meanwhile, the first phase of the review was received by the HSE last September.

Health Minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill has said she would like to publish the report but that the HSE is prevented from doing so due to legal issues around it that need to be examined.

Sinn Fein’s health spokesperson David Cullinane has remarked that it is “unacceptable that parents are once again finding out last, through the media, about serious concerns in their children’s care”.

“Letters are only arriving in homes now, while the HSE had the report since September and the Minister had the report last week. That is not good enough,” said Cullinane.

Related Reads

Surgeon at centre of Temple Street spinal surgeries probe was 'acting with good intent', IHCA says

Taoiseach backs Children's Health Ireland board after damning report on spinal surgeries

‘Damning litany of failure’: Calls for investigation of governance at Children’s Health Ireland

He added that each family of the 91 patients reviewed in phase one “deserves to know what was found, as does the public”.

Cullinane also said it “makes no sense” that there is a possibility that the phase 1 findings won’t be published until phase two, which will examine wider issues of capacity and governance, conclude.

Phase two will not conclude until the end of this year.

“If the review contains findings and recommendations there is no reason they should not be published now, alongside immediate actions, so families are not left in limbo for months,” said Cullinane.

He remarked that the delay is “part of a wider pattern” and that “time and again, families are treated as an afterthought with promises made and broken, timelines missed, and communication absent”.

“Trust is on the floor and can only be restored through partnership and accountability,” added Cullinane.

“The Minister must ensure the publication of the Phase 1 findings and recommendations, appoint the independent mediator as promised, set out clear actions and timelines, and stick to them.

“Families and advocates must be engaged in partnership at every stage. Children and parents cannot be left waiting, wondering and hearing last.”