Advocacy groups have criticised the decision to postpone complex spinal surgeries at Temple Street children’s hospital for three weeks, stating that children “must not be allowed to deteriorate before their worried parents’ eyes”.
Children’s Health Ireland (CHI), which delivers healthcare at Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital Crumlin and Temple Street, and paediatric services at Tallaght Hospital, Dublin, announced a “temporary pause” on complex spinal surgery at Temple Street for three weeks from August 26th.
In an updated statement on Monday, CHI said only three complex surgeries have been postponed for the next three weeks, and all other spinal surgeries will continue during this time.
Until this point, CHI had been conducting an average of one complex spinal surgery per week, up from an average of one per month at this time last year.
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“The cumulative impact of undertaking a greater volume of these complex surgeries in recent months has resulted in pressures on beds, theatre capacity and on the highly specialised staff working within the service. We are sincerely sorry to those families and patients affected,” the statement said.
The nature of these complex surgeries means that there are increased medical needs and a likelihood of longer stays in hospital for children and young people with complex conditions, CHI said.
The statement said the service remains “on track” to deliver on the promise that by year end, no patient will be waiting longer than four months for spinal surgery, if clinically appropriate.
The paediatric advocacy group for children with Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus welcomed the work of the frontline staff in this area, but said children are “still suffering”.
“We at the paediatric advocacy group had, unfortunately, foreseen these difficulties arising, despite repeatedly and consistently stating that these children needed timely access to prevent post-op complications, prolonged stays and elevated readmission rates to acute hospital settings,” the group said.
“This is the current situation faced by families and the resulting three-week postponement of services.”
Julie Ahern, legal, policy and services director for the Children’s Rights Alliance, has called on the Government and Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly to explain why the surgeries were cancelled.
The Government had an obligation to provide a proper health service for children and they needed to tell families what was happening, Ms Ahern said.
The alliance said it was “deeply concerned” at the cancellation, adding that families were being left in limbo and the cancellation of such important and complex surgery was having an impact on the wellbeing of children.
“They’ve already been through enough,” she told RTÉ Radio’s Morning Ireland.
Claire Cahill, co-founder of the Scoliosis Advocacy Network, said that the parents of children awaiting scoliosis surgery are losing trust that the system will deliver.
Funding alone was not sufficient to solve the problem, she said, adding that there is a “small, specialised set” of medical personnel who were carrying out these complex surgeries, meaning capacity is “very limited” and leading to the lengthening backlog.
