It’s impossible to maintain patient safety and dignity
PRESIDENT Michael D Higgins has said every support and care should be made available to children facing serious illnesses, and that their families should be spa red any additional burdens.
He was responding to a request for his view about the scandal of children waiting years for life-saving and lifechanging orthopaedic surgeries due to a lack of operating theatres and surgeons.
A spokesman for President Higgins said: ‘The President is deeply conscious of the pain which children suffering from complex conditions and their families experience.
‘Throughout his time as President, and prior to that as a member of the Oireachtas, President Higgins has emphasised the importance of ensuring all appropriate care and supports are available to all children facing serious illnesses wherever possible.’
The President, the spokesman added, was also adamant ‘that families who are already dealing with significant challenges and traumas do not have to face any additional burdens’.
There marks will be considered by many as significant, as the waiting lists scandal is considered major embarrassment for the Government.
Waiting lists involving around 300 children awaiting spinal surgery and other orthopaedic procedures were again thrust into the spotlight after a referral by the Children’s Health Ireland hospital group of one of the country’s top paediatric orthopaedic surgeons to the Irish Medical Council (IMC) last September.
CHI referred Connor Green to the IMC after concerns were raised about the death of a patient with spina bifida, as well as the outcomes of surgeries for others with the condition.
The OrthoKids Ireland group, consisting of 150 families of children on Mr Green’s surgery list, have called on the IMC to expedite its investigation. They have also called on CHI to ask Mr Green to return to work after he took voluntary leave last September.
Mr Green and his colleague, Professor Damian McCormack, highlighted ‘inadequate’ and ‘chaotic’ services for children with orthopaedic conditions, at a meeting of the Oireachtas health committee in late 2021.
At the time, CHI chief Eilísh Hardiman apologised to patients and families for the long waiting times.
A fortnight ago, Health Minister Stephen Donnelly admitted before an Oireachtas committee on health that the Government was ‘failing many of these children in the context of the length of time they are obliged to wait’.
Mr Donnelly said he had allocated a €19million investment fund, but also said he was ‘not satisfied that the €19million has been allocated according to my very clear direction on prioritisation for orthopaedics, with a very clear focus on paediatric spinal work’.
He added: ‘I want to see dedicated beds and staff. These surgeons cannot be fighting for resources for these children, particularly when the Government has made such a large amount of funding available.’
Last week, Mr Donnelly said he was in favour of establishing a task force to expedite reducing the waiting lists.
The Ombudsman for Children, Niall Muldoon, called on the Government ‘to honour’ a commitment it made seven years ago that no scoliosis patient would wait more than four months for surgery.
...and now even President Higgins is weighing in on children’s wait for care