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A “SERIOUS LETTER” written by twelve paediatric surgeons have expressed “significant concerns” around staffing levels within the new National Children’s Hospital, the Dáil heard today.
In a letter to the chair of the board of Children’s Health Ireland, the surgeons in the department of paediatric surgery and urology across the group said there was a risk to the provision of safe and sustainable surgical services within the new hospital.
They say that the national model of care for paediatric surgery “clearly outlines” the need for 17 paediatric surgeons by 2028.
The dozen signatories say that there is an implementation plan to step up from the current workforce by recruiting between one and two surgeons per year until 2028.
However, the surgeons say that the recommended workforce of 17 paediatric surgeons has not been included in the definitive business case for the new Children’s Hospital.
They said: “This will result in failure to implement this model of care, which poses a risk to the provision of paediatric surgical services nationally and will impact negatively on the provision of safe and sustainable surgical services within the new Children’s hospital.
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“This is at a time when there is significant ongoing pressure for paediatric surgeons to meet HSE targets for new [Out Patients Department] appointments, while continuing to deal with the growing elective surgery waiting lists.”
The letter was also sent to Health Minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, CHI chief executive Lucy Nugent, and HSE CEO Bernard Gloster.
Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald raised the matter with the Taoiseach today stating that the surgeons outline “bizarrely that the plans for opening the new children’s hospital will see it understaffed from day one”.
“The surgeons believe they have been ignored and that the recommended workforce of 17 paediatric surgeons has not been factored in.
“This hospital is now delayed five years and there still is no proper plan to open it,” she said.
In response, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said there is always a debate around the proper commissioning and staffing of a hospital, particularly in the context of “movement from older facilities to a newer facility”.
He said it is his understanding that Children’s Health Ireland has been working on the matter for quite some time and that there has been a whole range of structures set in place to facilitate a smooth transition from the existing paediatric hospitals and tertiary hospitals to the new national children’s hospital.
“I accept, however, that this will be on a scale never experienced before, particularly in paediatric medicine.
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“In my view, the new facility will be state of the art. There will be a huge step change in terms of health and we need to match that with the required staffing levels.”
CHI has been contacted for comment.
The letter comes as the new health minister said the hospital may not open to patients until 2026, due to clinical concerns about moving sick children from the existing hospitals during the winter months.
The large-scale operation would require parts of Dublin to be closed overnight as children are transported across the city by ambulance to the new hospital.
Labour’s Alan Kelly said yesterday that he had serious reservations about whether the hospital will open next year, predicting that it could be 2027 before patients are seen.
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They say time is of the essence but unfortunately by the time you make the call and the length of time the ambulance arrives the damage is done, also if you arrive in A&E with a stroke victim your told to wait for them to be assessed, I’m speaking from personal experience, it all sounds good but unfortunately that’s not what happens.
@Nan: I’d say if in doubt, dial 999 & if it saves a few people, everyone’s done the right thing. What sometimes happens is that A has a stroke and insists he is fine, then B rings friends to wonder what to do for the best. What I got from the article is not to delay, ring paramedics before anything else.
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