Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 11 November 2021

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health

Delays in Accessing Scoliosis Treatment and Surgery: Discussion

Professor Damian McCormack:

Precisely. The second element of that is the staffing, because if you have, frankly, a poor quality individual anywhere, be it in a Dublin hospital or a peripheral hospital, that individual is not going to take on these more difficult cases. That is really a problem because in my personal opinion if you have a good quality surgeon, you will have a good quality staff and a good quality service. The key thing is the good quality surgeon. That comes right back to training. That is where the major issue is. You can build all the hospitals you want and all the theatres you want, but if you do not have a surgeon who is comfortable doing high quality surgery, it will not happen.