THE GOVERNMENT IS taking seriously concerns that have been raised about the standard of hip surgeries carried out on children, Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe has said. 

During Leaders’ Questions, Sinn Féin’s Pearse Doherty raised concerns about a leaked report alleging that “unnecessary hip surgeries were carried out on hundreds of children in the CHI hospitals at Cappagh and Temple Street”.

Speaking in the Dáil, Doherty said it is “absolutely shocking and a great scandal” if a  medical professional put a child through the pain and trauma of surgery if it was not necessary, as has been alleged. 

The Ditch published a leaked draft report into the procedures carried out at a number of hospitals, with auditors taking a sample of surgeries and assessing whether a threshold for surgery was indicated. 

“It claims that hundreds of children on whom surgery was carried out did not meet the threshold for that surgery.  They were subject to unnecessary surgery.

“According to that audit, 561 children went through these hip surgeries since 2021.  The audit has found that 79% of those operated on at Cappagh and 60% of those at Temple Street did not meet the threshold for surgery. They were unnecessary. The report recommends that all of these children be recalled and independently assessed,” said the Sinn Féin deputy.

Doherty said the daughter of one the parents who made contact with Sinn Féin was only four years of age when she went through her hip operation.

“She received a letter from the hospital at Cappagh to inform her of the clinical audit into these surgeries just a couple of weeks ago. She is devastated. She says that she is sick to her stomach that her daughter might have been operated on unnecessarily. She says that it is a horrifying situation to be in as a parent,” said Doherty. 

He added: “This comes less than two years after it came to light that unlicensed springs were implanted into several children at Temple Street children’s hospital. That scandal is still ongoing. External reviews and HIQA reviews have been ongoing for 18 months now and we still have no answers. There is no sign of the interim report that was promised at the time.”

Responding, Donohoe said that he is conscious that, before the final report was made available, many families had very deep worries about surgeries their children had undergone.

He said it is vital that when issues are raised regarding the need for surgeries or any other medical interventions, their impacts and why they occurred, those issues are taken very seriously and acted upon.

A clinical audit is now taking place with regard to the matter, said Donohoe, who indicated that the final report will be submitted to the Department of Health. 

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He acknowledged the seriousness of the matter.

Once clinicians have had an input to the final report, a number of further priorities will then become urgent, said the minister. 

Families will need clear communication about the conclusions of the report, acknowledging the distress and worry that many face, he said.

The government will look at what further actions, if any, are needed to respond to the consequences of any operations that took place, said Donohoe.

“We will need to understand if and why this happened in the first place and what the consequences of it are. The hospitals, the Minister and the Government will take this as seriously as the House would expect. It is important to emphasise that this work is under way. It is all about ensuring that any surgical practice that took place during that period was carried out in a way that was consistent with international standards and the care that any family would expect when entrusting our health professionals with a child’s care,” said the finance minister.