Three board of Children’s Health Ireland resign

By Gráinne Ní Aodha, PA

Three board of Children’s Health Ireland (CHI) have resigned, the Minister for Health has said.

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill confirmed the resignations during an interview on RTÉ Radio.

It comes after several controversies involving CHI, including a report published on Friday that found many children underwent “unnecessary” hip surgeries in two Dublin hospitals.

The clinical audit of dysplasia of the hips surgeries in children found that a lower threshold for operations was used at CHI Temple Street hospital and the National Orthopaedic Hospital Cappagh (NOHC) than the threshold used at CHI Crumlin.

The review discovered that in the period 2021 to 2023 almost 80 per cent of children operated on at the NOHC, and 60 per cent of those at Temple Street, did not meet the threshold for surgery.

The 2,259 children who underwent hip surgeries in the three hospitals (NOHC, CHI Temple Street and CHI Crumlin) from as far back as 2010 will now be subject to clinical reviews.

Opposition TDs have called for a public inquiry and for CHI to be fully subsumed into the HSE.

The CHI hospital group is a distinct entity from the HSE, although it is funded by the HSE and able to it.

People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy said the hip dysplasia issue was a “horrendous scandal” and there was a “very fundamental problem of governance” in CHI.

“I think CHI is not fit for purpose as currently set up. I think that’s kind of part of what a public inquiry needs to look at, but it needs to be quick.”