HEALTH MINISTER STEPHEN Donnelly has admitted that the reviews into the crisis in spinal surgeries at Temple Street Children’s Hospital may take up to a year to complete, but that he is expecting interim reports in the next few months. 

Speaking in New York today, Donnelly also said he will make himself available to meet “any and all” of the families next week “at their convenience”. 

The Minister said that he is primarily focused on getting answers to the families’ questions, and finding out if there are any additional safety concerns around procedures at Children’s Health Ireland (CHI) hospitals.

He said that while the full report on the matter may take up to a year to complete, he is expecting an interim report on these “highest priority issues” by the end of this year.

The new report, which is being conducted under the HSE’s Chief Clinical Officer, will look into children’s spinal services right across Ireland’s hospitals.

Donnelly said that beyond these “immediate” issues, the external expert who is conducting the review has the authority to go as “wide and deep as he wants”.

The clinical director for Children’s Health Ireland today told RTÉ’s News at One that there is a separate investigation ongoing into the use of springs in children’s spinal surgeries. 

He said that there were only problems within a small cohort of “very complicated cases”. 

Dr Ike Okafor told the programme: “Last year we did over 500 spinal surgeries, that’s probably the average of what we do each year. So you’re looking at over the period that was reviewed, we’ve probably done about 2,000 spinal surgeries and we’re looking at a small cohort of children. We have 13,000 children who get surgery in CHI every year.”

He also said that this review, which follows on from the two which have been published, will include families that did not take part in the previous reviews. 

Dr Okafor further stated that some incorrect information has been posted on social media about the kinds of devices implanted in children. 

He stated that the spring devices in question were not purchased from the company that has been named in these social media posts. 

When asked when CHI was made aware of the use of the devices that were used, Dr Okafor said: “The information came to us at the end of June, early July. And that’s how we became aware that there were none authorised. There were people in CHI who knew that they were being used when they were being used. There were clinicians who knew that they were being used.”

The Minister said it is key to note that “no additional notifications” have been made to the Chief Clinical Officer of the HSE relating to the use of non-medical devices in children’s surgeries.

He further stated that he is “very concerned” that other clinicians and people at Temple Street Hospital knew about non-medical devices being used but did not follow the mandatory open disclosure policy within the HSE.

“It is absolutely essential that when people know about [things like] this… that first and foremost they raise a flag, and they must feel safe and supported doing that.

“That would appear to have not happened in this case and I am deeply concerned about that,” he added.

Donnelly said that he was only notified of the use of unapproved springs being used in surgeries in the last few weeks. 

Meanwhile, the Joint Committee on Health has sought a meeting with CHI to discuss the issues relating to complications that have arisen following spinal surgeries performed in Temple Street.

Chair of the Committee, Seán Crowe TD said: “Myself and members of the Committee are deeply concerned at the revelations regarding spinal surgeries on a number of children at Temple Street and we feel it is important that these matters are examined in detail at a meeting in public session with Children’s Health Ireland at the earliest opportunity.”

“We are working to arrange that the meeting will take place next week,” he added. Two reviews into the matter were published yesterday.

They found that children who received a particular spinal surgery in the hospital had to return to the operating theatre 11 separate times on average, with one child returning 33 times.

The HSE confirmed on Monday that very serious concerns had been identified in relation to the care of 19 children, one of whom, Dollceanna Carter from Co Meath, died in September 2022.    

- Additional reporting from Political Correspondent Christina Finn, who is currently reporting from New York.