Social Democrats TD Pádraig Rice has described today’s responses from CHI at the Oireachtas Health Committee as deeply disappointing and completely inadequate.
Deputy Rice, who is the party’s health spokesperson and chair of the Health Committee, said:
“From what we heard this morning, it would seem that some in CHI still do not appreciate the gravity of the organisation’s failings, or indeed the hurt that has been caused to children and families.
“It is difficult to have confidence in their assurances that things have changed in terms of governance, work environment and clinical oversight.
“CHI’s supposed commitment to transparency rings pretty hollow, not least given their failure to publish the 2022 internal review into a clinical department at one of its hospitals. In response to my questioning, the chief executive of CHI has committed to publishing the legal advice upon which this decision was made. This must happen immediately.
“It is also unacceptable that the 2017 Dickson report into paediatric urology services was not published, just because CHI did not accept its findings. It is disgraceful that the HSE was not provided with a copy of this report, despite funding the service.
“A significant number of questions remain unanswered after today’s meeting, given the breadth of scandals now engulfing CHI.
“And there are potentially more to come. We are still waiting for the Nayagam review into children’s spinal surgeries.
“In terms of hip dysplasia, we still don’t know why it happened. The best answer CHI could give was that it was down to a group of surgeons who firmly believed in what they were doing. This explanation is completely unsatisfactory.
“It is also deeply concerning that CHI does not know if parents of children reviewed in the hip dysplasia audit were informed that the procedure was novel. There is no evidence that such discussions took place before surgery.
“Today’s responses at the Health Committee from CHI add further weight to the argument that this separate entity from the HSE is not just unnecessary, it is a wholly inappropriate structure for delivering quality healthcare services for children.”
June 19th, 2025