Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

There are a number of issues there and I thank the Deputy for raising them. I fully understand the trauma that the family of Daniel Collins is going through in respect of the delay in getting surgery carried out. I do not want to go into the background of every individual case in terms of complexity of the case and so forth. My understanding is that there has been engagement. The assistant director of nursing lead for the spinal surgery management unit spoke with Daniel's family on 2 April and discussed his plan of care. There was a further engagement on 7 April. I hope that his case can be progressed. As I said yesterday, it is now in the hands of the clinical team managing his case. A multidisciplinary team meeting will be held in respect of Daniel's case in terms of assessing and dealing with the issue. It is a matter for the multidisciplinary team to come forward with that and engage with the family in respect of timings and so forth.

In terms of the broader issue, there has been far greater activity in spinal surgery within CHI. That has to be said. There has been a reduction in waiting times and in the lists. Others have come forward. It is not where it should be. We are going to continue to press ahead. The Minister is very focused on the issue, to further reduce waiting times for scoliosis surgery and spinal surgeries more generally and also to increase activity levels there.

We are awaiting further reports to be presented to the Minister. HIQA is the external independent body to ensure quality within healthcare settings in Ireland. It has produced a report in respect of the specific issue of the use of springs, which is absolutely unacceptable. We are all agreed on that. Then there are issues regarding the independent review being led by Mr. Nayagam. There are two parts to that, namely, the review in terms of the individual risk and then the independent review in terms of assessing the governance of paediatric orthopaedic surgery service to make findings on improvement in governance, quality, safety outcomes and performance metrics.

Meanwhile, the work has to continue in CHI. A new CEO has been appointed to CHI. The chairperson has resigned. A new chairperson needs to be appointed. The board needs to do that. Some have called for the board to be disbanded. That would not help the situation right now in any shape or form. It would weaken governance even further and could lead to further difficulties and challenges.

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