Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy very much for raising this very important matter. I am very conscious that before this report was made available, many families had very deep worries about surgeries their beloved children had undergone. They were raising questions about the need for and impact of these surgeries. They will at least have questioned their trust in our health service and health professionals. As the Deputy raises this very important issue, I am also conscious that our nurses, doctors and consultants work very hard to provide the best possible care to those with whose care they are entrusted. This is why it is so vital that when issues are raised regarding the need for surgeries or any other medical interventions, their impacts and why they occurred, those issues are taken very seriously and acted upon.

As Deputy Doherty has already acknowledged, a clinical audit is now taking place with regard to this issue. I emphasise that this audit is taking place in recognition of the seriousness of this matter and what it means for families' trust and confidence in health services that are designed to look after them and to support their health. That audit is being conducted at the moment. As to where that process now stands, the report is now being looked at. Clinicians are providing final input into it. That final input will be available to the author of the report very shortly, if it has not already been shared. I am certain that when the process is complete, this work will be shared with the Department of Health, the hospitals and those who lead them. At that point, a number of further priorities will then become urgent. The first will be to communicate clearly with the families of children who may have been affected and to share with them, in a transparent and open way, the conclusions of this report, acknowledging the distress and worry that many face. The second will be to look at what further actions, if any, are needed to respond to the consequences of any operations that took place. The third relates to a core theme of the audit that will have taken place. We will need to understand if and why this happened in the first place and what the consequences of it are. The hospitals, the Minister and the Government will take this as seriously as the House would expect. It is important to emphasise that this work is under way. It is all about ensuring that any surgical practice that took place during that period was carried out in a way that was consistent with international standards and the care that any family would expect when entrusting our health professionals with a child's care.

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