THE Health Minister admits she’s unhappy a €5million boost for kids’ spinal services hasn’t led to a major cut in wait times.
Jennifer Carroll MacNeill has ordered an audit of waiting list management practices for spinal surgeries at CHI and raised queries about why so many surgeries are being outsourced to Blackrock Hospital.
The Seanad today passed the final stages of a bill that would force the HSE to create a national treatment service to ensure children are not left waiting too long for scoliosis surgeries.
Minister Carroll MacNeill has backed the bill tabled by independent senators – led by Michael McDowell – which will now go to the Dail.
Speaking in the Seanad tonight, Minister Carroll MacNeill expressed her “frustration” at how much funding has been invested in spinal services including a €5m recruitment fund but there has not been a significant drop in wait times.
She said: “It is a frustration to me to observe the scale of additional resources that have gone into this area – the hiring of more healthcare professionals in Crumlin, Temple Street and Cappagh, a fifth theatre in Temple Street, additional MRI scanners, 24 beds, further activity at Cappagh and an additional 52 full time equivalent posts to enhance spinal services approved at a cost of €5m.
“And there is recruitment ongoing for that and I do appreciate it can be difficult to recruit consultant positions.
“If there is a consultant position advertised that there may be a range of people who go for it and perhaps some people aren’t qualified, perhaps some people don’t have the correct experience, some people withdraw and take positions elsewhere – so I do appreciate that consultant recruitment is difficult.
“Nevertheless, there has been significant additional capacity and resources put into this area over several years and I don’t think I see a commensurate jump in activity and I definitely have more questions and more analysis to do in relation to that.”
The number of children waiting over three months for spinal surgeries has fallen from 108 in August of last year to 60 as of the end of May.
Some 513 spinal operations were completed last year – representing a ten per cent increase on the number of surgeries done in 2023.
However, 15 of these operations were done in hospitals in New York and London while 48 were done in the Blackrock private hospital with the taxpayer footing the bill.
Minister Carroll MacNeill told the Seanad that she is working with HSE boss Bernard Gloster to carry out audits on waiting list management practices in three areas of Children’s Health Ireland with spinal services among the areas being probed.
She said this internal audit will take between four and six months as she promised to stay on top of the issue.
The Minister questioned why so many surgeries were being outsourced to the private hospital in Blackrock.
SURGERIES OUTSOURCED
She said: “There’s quite a lot of activity in Blackrock as well for example. There was 48 procedures done in Blackrock as well.
“As I look at this year’s projections I see that they are, to my mind, they seem to be higher in Blackrock and not as active internationally and those are the sort of things I think are important to monitor and interrogate.”
Independent Senator Michael McDowell thanked the Minister for backing the bill through the Seanad and noted her decision to highlight the use of Blackrock hospital.
Our Kids Can’t Wait Campaign
WAITING lists in Ireland have long been a national disgrace.
More than 106,000 children are on hospital waiting lists for all treatments. However, a new source of shame has emerged as 327 children wait for life changing spinal surgeries.
Their conditions are getting worse while they languish on waiting lists.
Such are the delays, many child patients will be outside the therapeutic window when their treatments are approved.
Earlier this month, the Seanad heard how at least one child has become permanently paralysed since the issue was raised publicly before Christmas.
Their plight has been spearheaded by campaigning Senator Tom Clonan, who himself has a child with a disability.
Former Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has even admitted that the health service is failing these kids.
Children are being allowed to deteriorate due to mismanagement, which has allowed the waiting lists to grow.
The Irish Sun’s Kids Can’t Wait campaign aims to shine a light on how the State is failing sick children and give their families a voice.
It will also force the Government to do something to clear the backlog of operations and give these children a chance of living a normal life.
He said: “I note what the Minister says about the apparent concentration of some surgeries in Blackrock.
“I do ask that the Minister and the Department and the HSE to ask why is that happening and whether there is a differential between patients who have insurance and patients who do not to be seen.”
CHI bosses will tomorrow appear before the Public Accounts Committee to be questioned over a range of scandals that have rocked the health service in recent months.
These include non-medical springs being implanted in children, hundreds of children having hip surgeries they may not have needed and a report that unveiled a culture and waiting list issues.
